The Retelling of Naruto Movies
by Starra Uchiha
Summary: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.
1. Chapter 1

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow- part one

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **GUESS WHOSE BACK!**

 **Just like I promised, I said I would be doing the movies. I am sorry that it has taken this long but I have been absolutely swamped with university.**

 **This movie is going to be happening around the Chapter 20 of the Retelling of Naruto and Itachi is back in Konoha. If you haven't read my Prequel, then go read it now! It's not integral to this story but it will make more sense if you did. At this point, Akemi and everyone is around 13 years old again. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone going backwards!**

 **NARUTO SHIPPUDEN**

That morning I got up, I felt like something was different. The air around me seemed different than it usually had, which unnerved me. I felt something was going to happen, but I didn't know what. I shook my head and pushed this feeling aside, knowing that it would all make sense soon. I stood at the Training Ground seven meeting point along with my teammates. I was sitting in a tree, reading through a scroll while I was waiting for Kakashi to arrive. I hadn't seen Haku that morning because he was on a mission – a long one at that. Haku had already been gone for a few weeks now and I was already beginning to miss him. Naruto had been staying over for the past few weeks too to keep me company. I hadn't seen much of Sasuke in those weeks because of how much time he was spending with Itachi. I didn't blame the young Uchiha either, Sasuke was just making up for all the lost time with his older brother ever since Itachi had returned to the village.

Naruto groaned from where he was standing. "Where is he?" He was sitting on the bridge with an unhappy expression on his face. He slowly began rubbing his eyes as he let out a big yawn.

"He's the one who told us to be here," Sakura grumbled, looking very irritated.

Sasuke frowned but didn't react. He was leaning against the fence with a blank expression. But, I could tell that even he was beginning to get a little irritated.

I silently sighed from my perch in the tree. Kakashi had sent a message to each of us that morning, telling us to meet at our usual meeting spot. He told us he had a surprise for us which made me very sceptical. I cared for Kakashi like family, but that didn't mean I fully trusted his little surprises. Kakashi could be really sadistic when he wanted too.

After a few more moments of silence, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Yo." He said, giving his useful half-hearted greeting.

"You're late!" Sakura yelled at him, sending him an accusing glare.

Kakashi tilted his head, feigning innocence. "I am?"

Rolling my eyes, I jumped down from my perch in the tree. "You're a terrible liar," I said sounding playful. I landed right next to Naruto – who looked half-asleep – and Sasuke. Naruto began leaning on me, falling into a deeper sleep. I let him lean against me, just letting him sleep. I and Naruto had been up all night training with one another. I was used to pulling all-nighters were as Naruto wasn't. I did feel guilty for keeping Naruto up at night and I knew that I was going to have to make it up to him.

"What's the surprise?" Sasuke asked, sparing a glance at Naruto and then Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I had to pick up these." He said, reaching into his pocket and producing four cinema tickets. He then handed it to each of us. Kakashi gave Naruto's ticket to me to keep hold of as Naruto was currently out of it.

I looked at the ticket. Ever since I had come to this universe, I hadn't really visited the cinema much. I was always too busy with training or something just came up. Naruto and Haku had been multiple times and they were always trying to convince me into going with them. However, I would always refuse and let them to it. Going to the cinema seemed to be one of the many ways Naruto and Haku bonded, other than training. It was something they both liked to do and I didn't really want to intrude on that. Naruto did view Haku as an older brother, much like I did.

"The Unlucky Princess…" I mumbled the title softly. There was something about the title that was very familiar but I couldn't place my finger on it.

Sakura looked at the ticket with confusion. "Why are you giving us these?" She was sending our sensei a sceptical look with her narrowed eyes.

"I'm not going." Sasuke immediately denied, handing the ticket back. He would much rather spend his time training than seeing a pointless movie.

Sakura looked at Sasuke. "If Sasuke-kun isn't going then neither am I!" She announced with a determined look in her eyes. She spared a glance at me and Naruto; secretly hoping we would go to the cinema and she could spend some time with her precious Sasuke.

I rolled my eyes, knowing her intentions.

Kakashi sighed. "How ungrateful. But I need you to see this movie, as it is part of our next mission. Just think about it as preparation." He said with a smirk under his mask. Without another word, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

I frowned and look at the ticket again.

"This is a waste of time," Sasuke said, looking agitated.

Naruto mumbled something under his breath but continued to sleep. Sasuke spared a glance in his direction. "What's up with the dobe?" He asked, looking at me.

I grinned at him sheepishly. "Naruto-kun and I kind of got caught up in training last night," I admitted, feeling guilty. I had wanted Naruto to train with me because I wanted to get a jutsu right as I had been having some difficulty with it. Naruto had been more than willing to help me but we got carried away and had completely forgotten about sleep. Usually, when we did this, Haku would be there to remind us to sleep, but he wasn't there.

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Idiots. Who trains at night?" Sakura scoffed loudly.

I stared at Sakura with a deadpan expression. "Ninjas." It still amazed me that even after everything we had been through, that Sakura refused to put any extra effort into her training. The Chunin Exams had done nothing for her motivation and she was still seriously lacking in everything.

"Next time, ask me," Sasuke said with a smirk, completely ignoring Sakura's outraged gasp. "I'm sure the dobe wasn't much of a challenge." He smirked in Naruto's direction, knowing that the Uzumaki could hear him.

"Teme," Naruto grumbled lowly, glaring at Sasuke. He had just woken up from his little nap and didn't appreciate what he was hearing.

I stared at Sasuke with slight amazement. Sasuke Uchiha wanted to spend time with me and Naruto. Only recently had Sasuke been trying to make an effort with us and had been acting less of a douche. That was mainly because his goals had recently shifted and he no longer wanted to become an avenger. But I still wasn't used to this new side. However, I did find that I liked this side of Sasuke a lot more than his avenger side. I had been worried at first that he would still try to avenge his fallen Clan, but Itachi seemed to have put a stop to that. I was extremely thankful for that because I didn't have a plan b in all honesty.

"If Sasuke-kun is in then so am I!" Sakura announced with fire in her emerald eyes.

"You aren't invited," I said back instantly, not wanting Sakura to disturb my training time. Yes, I wanted Sakura to improve, but I didn't want her ruining my training. Spending time with her now was a hassle. The time I spent training was usually my outlet for any pent-up emotions that I was bottling up. There was just something so satisfying about punching the living hell out of a tree or even stabbing it multiple times with a kunai. If Sakura was there, she would spend her time trying and failing to impress Sasuke and I didn't want to put up with that.

Sakura glared at me with a venomous expression.

Naruto stood on his own, no longer needing to lean against me. "The movie should be starting within the next twenty minutes." He said, a grin forming on his face. Naruto loved going to the cinema now. As a child, the owners wouldn't let him through – even when he had bought a ticket. But now he had people to go with and he was never turned away. When Naruto had first gone to the cinema with Haku, the owner did try and send Naruto away, but Haku has stood up for him. Naruto didn't realise how scary Haku could be up until that point. Now Naruto could go to the cinema whenever he liked.

"Race ya!" I shouted while running in the direction of the cinema.

"You're on!" Naruto yelled out as he began running after me.

Sakura sighed. "They are such children." She muttered and then looked at Sasuke for approval, only to find Sasuke grinning as he too sped off.

"Hey!" She shouted in outrage, also running in the direction of the cinema.

Around ten minutes later, we all sat in the cinema. I had ended up winning the little race, with Sasuke right on my heels and Naruto right behind him. Sakura had been a few minutes behind all of us and we had to wait for her. Naruto had been whining because he really wanted a good seat for the movie. Luckily, we managed to find a seat and I was surprised to see how packed the cinema was. I sat down with Naruto on my left and Sasuke on my right. Sakura sat right next to Sasuke, smiling very happily. The movie began to play and the first person I saw was a woman. The woman had long black hair with bangs that swept on each side of her face and light blue-coloured eyes. She was shown to wear makeup such as pink eyeshadow and red lipstick. My eyes widened when I saw the woman, it was Koyuki Kazahana, the lost princess of the Land of Snow. I tensed up when I realised what was happening. We were in the first movie. But some part of me was really excited because back in my world, this had been my favourite Naruto movie to watch.

Sasuke glanced over in my direction. He had seen my reaction from the corner of his eyes. He looked at me with a curious expression. I pointed to my eyes, silently asking him to activate his Sharingan. For a moment, I didn't know if he understood me, but then I saw Sasuke's eyes change from onyx to red.

' _This will be our next mission.'_ I mouthed to him, a smirk growing on my face.

Sasuke looked even more confused, but he didn't question me.

Feeling someone glaring at me, I leaned forward to find Sakura glaring at me with hatred in her eyes. I rolled my eyes in exasperation and sat back in my seat, getting comfortable. I felt someone tap my shoulder, and I turned to see Naruto looking at me in confusion. He wanted to know what was happening.

I leaned over in my seat. "Watch this closely," I whispered lowly into Naruto's ear.

For a moment, Naruto still looked confused, but he soon shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the film.

I smirked in my seat and watched the film closely. In the movie, I was only able to see snip bits of the film Koyuki played in. But actually seeing Koyuki act almost made me forget about her bad attitude that we were going to see.

"She's so cool," Naruto whispered over to me, his eyes wide with excitement.

Looking over to the Uzumaki, I could see how engrossed Naruto was in this film. In the anime, Naruto had been shouting out loud in the cinema, which eventually got him kicked out and booed by the audience. But Naruto seemed to be holding back and watching the film contently.

A rush of affection filled me as I watched Naruto. He had certainly matured and was definitely different from the Naruto I had grown up watching.

 **NARUTO**

A few hours later, we all now stood below a large billboard. When we had walked out of the cinema, a dog had run up to us with a note in its mouth. Kakashi had sent us a message to meet him at this specific point. Now, we were all stood in a quiet part of Konoha were not many people passed. Sakura was leaning against the large fence, staring at Sasuke. Sasuke had moved away from Sakura and stood more near me and Naruto.

"He's going to be late again, isn't he?" Sakura whined out loud, already knowing the answer. Kakashi had been their sensei for a while now and it seemed the only time Kakashi was ever on time was when it was important.

Sasuke silently rolled his eyes. "He's always like this."

"He wouldn't be Kakashi-sensei if he arrived on time," I said laughing slightly. I was in a good mood because I was really looking forward to this mission. I had to stop myself from jumping up and down on the spot because I didn't want to be too obvious. However, it would seem that Sasuke and Naruto had picked up in my cheery mood. Both of them were sending me looks. It seemed as though Sasuke wanted to ask, but he couldn't because Sakura was present. Sakura was the only one out of us that didn't know the truth about me and I wasn't planning to tell her any time soon. Naruto and Sasuke respected my wishes on this matter and had agreed with me.

Sakura pouted, "It's weird that he sent us to go see a film though." Sakura had enjoyed the film and had liked sitting next to Sasuke even more. Sitting with Sasuke in a dark room for a few hours was the highlight of her day.

I smirked and tried to hide it with a cough.

Sasuke sent me a suspicious look, his narrowed eyes staring at me.

Innocently, I smiled back at him.

"The film was really good." Naruto grinned widely. There had been a few times when he wanted to shout out in surprise, but he had held himself back. Haku had scolded him a few times for this and warned him that they would get kicked out. After being told this, Naruto made sure he behaved in the cinema now.

I nodded my head in agreement. "It really was. The story was so interesting." I also couldn't deny the great acting from all the people involved. The storyline was interesting and the characters were well written.

Sakura blushed. "I was busy watching Michi-sama, the guy who played Tsukuyaku," She said in a dreamy voice, but then quickly looked in Sasuke's direction. "But of course, Sasuke-kun is number one." She said in a sickly sweet voice.

Sasuke made no indication that he had even heard her words.

Naruto grimaced. "Sakura-chan has a bad taste in men, as always," Naruto said, leaning over and whispered in my ear.

I snickered and wholeheartedly agreed.

Sakura glared in our direction.

"I wonder if there are any princess like Princess Fuun," Naruto said with a grin. He would love to have a mission where he could protect a princess. It had been one of his dreams as a child and he was hoping that maybe one day that it would come true.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest "Don't be ridiculous. It's just a story from a film."

I smirked from my spot, hiding it behind my hand.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground could be heard close by. When I heard this noise, I immediately perked up and stood up from my sitting position. Sasuke had also heard the noise and was looking in the direction of where it was coming from with a suspicious expression. Naruto looked baffled, which was understandable. Konoha didn't have many horses in the village and they weren't usually running around in the middle of the village.

Just then, a horse jumped over the fence near us, revealing Koyuki Kazahana as the rider of the beast. Koyuki briefly looked in our direction as the horse landed on the ground before her horse carried her away from us at lightning speed.

"No way! That was Princess Fuun!" Sakura exclaimed in shock when she saw the rider.

Hearing noises from the direction of the gate behind us, I jumped out of the way in time, grabbing Naruto as I did. Sasuke followed me close behind with Sakura lagging slightly. I look back over the fence and watched as a load of soldiers came speeding through, all on horses. They were all dressed in armour that was coloured a dark blue and purple. After a few seconds, they were out of sight as they rode away, after Koyuki. If I hadn't seen the anime, I would have thought they were the bad guys too and would try to help Koyuki, but I knew better. I knew that they were guards just trying to stop Koyuki from running away like she always did

Sasuke looked at me, his gaze narrowed. He was silently asking if this was what I meant.

I smirked at him and nodded my head.

Without another word, we all run after Koyuki and the people after her. I and Naruto jumped on top of the houses and sped after them. Sasuke and Sakura were behind us, attacking the soldiers that were after Koyuki. Pumping chakra into our legs gave us the advantage and we managed to catch up with them in record time. As I and Naruto got closer, we spotted one of the people in armour throw at the net at Koyuki. Naruto reached into his pouch and threw Shuriken at it, destroying the net. Koyuki took this chance and sped away on her horse. The people tried to go after her, but Naruto made several clones and ambushed them.

"Don't hurt the horses Naruto-kun!" I yelled at him as I run after Koyuki. If I just grabbed her then most of the fiasco would be sorted very quickly. Hopefully, I could get her on the boat without her being out too long like in the anime.

Naruto grinned at me but did as I asked and only focused on the people in the armour.

I watched as Koyuki rode her horse away and ran after her. I stayed a fair distance away and stayed in the shadows so she wouldn't see me. I tailed her until she came to a stream, where she slowed down and got off the horse. Slowly, she sat down on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest.

Naruto appeared beside me, ready to go after her. But I stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto-kun, before you go in, you need to know something," I told him with a blank expression.

Naruto tilted his head, "What is it Akemi-chan?"

"She is a flake and will run the minute you confront her," I told him, looking over at Koyuki. In the anime, Koyuki had put up such a fight and had run away from Naruto when he tried to get close to her. However, I didn't know if she would react the same way, or would react differently. I had a feeling though that she was still a flake.

Naruto frowned but nodded his head anyway.

Slowly, both I and Naruto made our way over to Koyuki, who hadn't noticed our presence. Koyuki was busy staring into the water with a blank expression. She made no outward reaction when I and Naruto crept closer other than giving us a side glance.

"Are you okay, Princess?" Naruto asked, looking genuinely worried.

Koyuki sneered.

"We should get you back," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I was secretly hoping she would co-operate, but I had a feeling she wouldn't.

Koyuki got up and walked over to her horse, completely ignoring us. She effortlessly got on her horse and rode away, glaring at us as she passed. She nearly knocked myself and Naruto into the river as her horse forced its way past us. However, I and Naruto managed to jump out of the way in time so we didn't end up getting wet.

I sighed to myself. "Of course." I was hoping that I was going to be wrong about Koyuki, but I wasn't and that made my eye twitch.

"Hey!" Naruto cried out with annoyance.

I and Naruto ran after Koyuki, not having trouble keeping up with the horse at all. Koyuki saw us and glared at us. Taking out her riding crop, Koyuki smacked the horse, making the animal go faster. I mentally rolled my eyes and easily kept pace with her, along with Naruto.

"I really liked your film, Princess!" Naruto exclaimed with a large grin on his face.

Koyuki seemed to glare even harsher at him and continued to ride faster, choosing to smack the hose with the riding crop again. She had a determined look in her eyes. She was determined to get away no matter what.

"Don't think you'll get rid of us that easily," Naruto said from his spot behind Koyuki. Having enough, Naruto jumped onto the back of Koyuki, enjoying the ride.

Koyuki's eyes widened when she saw him.

"Hey, Princess, you're really good at riding. As expected from the Fire Country's most famous actress!" Naruto said with a grin. He thought that he was complimenting her, but he only seemed to annoy her further.

I sighed as I watched this interaction. It wasn't in Naruto's nature to ever give up and I loved him dearly for that quality. However, I knew that many others weren't too fussed about his attitude, and Koyuki was definitely one of those people.

It didn't take long for Koyuki's riding to lead us back into the village. I jumped on to the rooftops of the houses so not to get in the way. However, Koyuki was making the horse run even faster than before. Many civilians jumped out of the way so not to get trampled by her. Just then, Koyuki got her kimono sleeve caught on a pole, causing the sleeve to rip and tear away to the ground.

"Don't you think you're going too fast, Princess?" Naruto asked, looking concerned. He was concerned for the civilians that were diving out of the way so not to get trampled.

However, Koyuki ignored him and continued riding in silence.

"Slow down!" I yelled at Koyuki, already knowing that she was going too fast. She had already ripped the sleeve of her kimono – which could have been avoided if she had been going slower than she was.

Koyuki ignored me and continued to ride at a dangerous speed.

My eye twitched in annoyance.

Just as Koyuki was about to ride further, children began walking the path, crossing sides. They were all laughing and not paying attention to what was coming.

"Stop!" I yelled out, hoping that Koyuki would snap out of her daze. In the anime, Koyuki had stopped in time, but I was worried that she wouldn't this time. Up ahead were civilian children who wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. Even Naruto was looking quite panicky, knowing what would happen to those children if Koyuki didn't stop in time.

"Watch out!" Naruto yelled out in panic.

The children froze in fear when they saw a speeding horse coming at them. They all closed their eyes and waited for impact. This seemed to snap Koyuki out of her daze, as she tightened her hold on the horse's reins and yanked, forcing the horse to stop. The force of this sent Koyuki and Naruto flying from the horse.

Naruto landed smoothly, whereas Koyuki landed on the ground quite roughly.

I jumped down, "You okay, Naruto-kun?" I asked, checking to make sure he didn't have any wounds, luckily I didn't see any.

Naruto grinned. "I'm fine Akemi-chan."

I smiled and nodded my head. I spared a glance at Koyuki, only to find her getting up just fine. After quickly scanning her, I could see that she wasn't injured and wouldn't need my help.

"It's Princes Fuun!" One of the children cried with glee on her face.

Koyuki sighed. "I am not Princes Fuun."

"I know, you're the actress, Fujikaze Yukie!" One child cried with happiness. "I am such a huge fan of yours!"

I smirked from where I was standing. She was neither of those titles. Koyuki had changed her name to hide the fact she is the lost princess of the Land of the Snow. She did this to hide from her Uncle – who had killed her father and took the throne. I and Naruto watched as the children surround Koyuki, all asking for autographs. All the children reached into their bags and grabbed some spare piece of paper and a pen. They all look up to Koyuki with hopeful looks in their eyes.

"Please sign!" One of the children cried.

Koyuki frowned. "I don't give autographs or anything like that."

"And why is that?" I challenged her, arching my eyebrow. What kind of celebrity doesn't give autographs? Terrible ones, that's who.

Koyuki sent me a side glare, one that I definitely returned. I sneered, I really didn't like her attitude already. The thought of being on a mission with her only made me want to scream. If she was going to be like this the whole time then I wasn't looking forward to it.

"Me too! Give me an autograph!" Naruto exclaimed, raising his hand.

"Please, I want one!"

"Since you're an actress, please sign this!"

"Pretty please!"

Koyuki's eye began twitching as she snapped. "Cut it out! Sooner or later, you will put it somewhere and then it will collect dust! It doesn't serve a purpose. It's stupid." Koyuki snarled at the children before storming away.

The children all looked to the ground with disappointment on their faces. One child started to cry, heavy tears streaming down their face.

I glared at her, watching as she walked away.

The adults seemed to think the same as me, as they all began whispering about Koyuki. They were whispering how sorry they felt for the children and called Koyuki a few choice words – ones that I fully agreed with. The children began leaving, all having depressed looks on their faces. I frowned looking at the children. There was nothing worse than meeting your idol, only to turn out they are completely horrible people and not what you thought.

Naruto frowned deeply and looked at me. "She is going to keep doing this, isn't she?" He asked with a curious expression.

I sighed deeply and nodded my head. "Yep." In the movie, Naruto spent hours going after her, only for Koyuki to get away. She was a slippery one, but she had spent years running away from everything.

"Should we grab her?" He asked with an unsure expression. Usually, he wouldn't think about doing this, but even he was already sick of Koyuki's attitude. He also couldn't help but feel a little hurt, because he really did admire her, only for her to have a terrible attitude.

I grinned and nodded my head, happy to hear this suggestion. Looking ahead, I saw that Koyuki was only a few feet away. Without a second thought, I dashed after her and jumped in front of her, blocking her path.

Koyuki glared at me. "Move now!"

"Sorry about this, Princess," I said, disappearing from her sight. I reappeared behind her and struck the nerve in her neck. I wasn't sorry about this in the slightest but I was saying this just to be respectful even when she didn't deserve it.

Koyuki's eyes became dull as she began to fall to the ground, unconscious. I caught her with ease and looked up. Naruto was talking to some of the adults, apologising for Koyuki's behaviour. From where I was, I was hidden away from everyone's line of sight. Taking this opportunity, I look down at Koyuki's neck and saw the necklace that was going to cause so many problems in the future. I stealthily reached around Koyuki's neck and grabbed her necklace.

 **NARUTO**

Sasuke sat in his chair, bored. Kakashi had found him and Sakura tying up the people who had been chasing Yukie Fujikaze. Kakashi had scolded them and apologised and that was when they found out the truth. Sakura and Sasuke had been brought back to the studio where things would be explained more clearly. But Sasuke wasn't really listening, he wanted to know what Akemi and Naruto were doing. He would rather be with them then Sakura at the moment. Sakura was in a chair really close to him and was sending him glances like he didn't notice. Sasuke had to hold back another sigh, Sakura was so annoying.

"Our mission is to protect the actress that plays Princess Fuun, Yukie Fujikaze," Kakashi said, his voice bringing back Sasuke to reality.

Sasuke looked at him. "Protect?" He was wondering if it was going to turn out like what happened in the Land of the Mist. If it was then Sasuke was looking forward to this mission more than he was minutes ago. The thought of protecting an actress just sounded boring.

Kakashi pursed his lips from under his mask. "Well, protect may not be the right word. It's better to say we're her escorts." Kakashi corrected with a smile.

The assistant director sighed. "This will be the first time that the Unlucky Princess will be filmed overseas. But Yukie Fukikaze plays the most critical role." As he spoke, he was tapping the rolled up script in his hand against his neck.

Sandayu Asama bowed his head. "I am really sorry." He said with a sincere expression. He had short grey hair with a beard and moustache along with small black eyes. He was wearing small glasses and a baby blue long-sleeve shirt with a navy blue blazer on top.

The director, Makino grinned as he smoked his pipe. "As one would expect from Konoha ninja, the bodyguards that were hired as stuntmen were no match. Even our master guards were easily beaten." Makino was an elderly man, with grey hair, and small squinted eyes. He wore a pair of blue glasses and a brown hat. He had found the entire situation rather amusing and knew that he wouldn't regret his decision to have Konoha ninja assist them.

Sasuke smirked, of course, they weren't even a match for them.

"Thank you very much for the compliment," Kakashi said with a sigh in his tone. The guards certainly hadn't appreciated the beating they had received. But Kakashi realised that it was his fault also. He had kept his students in the dark and they had reacted exactly as he feared.

Sakura was looking around, finding the whole situation to be amazing. She had never been in a film studio before. As a child, Sakura had wanted to be an actress, but that changed when she met Sasuke and she wanted to be near him. While looking around, Sakura spotted a photo that showed three ice glaciers that looked stunning.

"Wow, it's so beautiful." Sakura marvelled in the low tone.

Sasuke shot her a side glance and looked away.

"Those are the Snow Country's rainbow glaciers." Said the voice of one of the actors. He was standing by with another actor, both with drinks in hand.

Sakura's eyes widened. "You're Kin-chan, the actor who played Brit!" She said in a loud voice. Rin smiled at her, he was used to this reaction so he didn't comment.

Hidero smiled too. "This time, the last scene of the movie will be filmed there." He said, also looking at the photo nearby.

"You're the actor who plated Shishimaru!" Sakura marvelled again.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura's voice and happy attitude were really starting to get on his nerves. Where were Akemi and Naruto when he needed them? "We sure are going far if we're going to the Snow Country," Sasuke commented dryly.

The assistant director smiled. "That was the manager, Sandayu-san's recommendation. It is said that in spring, the rainbow glaciers glow in seven colours." When he and Makino had heard about this, they knew that this had to be included in the new movie.

"But that is nothing more than a myth." Kakashi cut in. Everyone turned to look at the copy-cat ninja. "In the real Snow Country, there are no such thing as spring," Kakashi explained, leaning against a nearby wall. Not many ninjas had been to the Land of Snow due to its freezing climate and how baron it was.

Sasuke frowned. "No spring?" The thought of Akemi going to the Land of Snow nearly made Sasuke laugh. He knew that she hated the cold, so this was going to be her worst nightmare.

"So that means it's always winter there?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her stupid question. He knew that if Akemi was here, she would have said something sarcastic.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Yes, that's what it means."

Makino looked up. "Kakashi, was it? I have heard that you've been to the Snow Country before." When making a request to have some escorts, he had asked to have someone who had actually been to the Land of Snow before. Makino had also heard of Kakashi's reputation and had no doubt he would have been there.

Kakashi looked down at the director. "That was long ago." His voice was light, but there was some hidden tension in his tone.

Another voice entered the conversation, this one appearing behind Sakura and Sasuke. "And it is said that the Snow Country is a poor nation." Sakura's face immediately heated up when she heard Michi's voice. The blush covered her entire face and only darkened when he smiled at her. "Didn't their economy collapse because the previous feudal lord got too involved with his mechanical puppets? And this is why they went bankrupt, or something like that." Michi asked, not too sure about this information. This had just been rumours that he had heard.

Hidero grinned. "Hey, I just hope that they have a heater at least. I don't really like cold places." The very thought brought a shiver down his spine.

Rin laughed. "So, why don't you run away, just like Yukie?" He asked, arching a brow in his direction.

The assistant director whined. "Come on, give me a break!"

Sakura frowned. "Is Yukie-san, always like that?" She asked, looking up to everyone.

All the actors looked at one another and all of them nodded their heads. "Well, yes," Rin answered with a frown. Personally, he found it very unprofessional and he saw Yukie as unreliable because of this. It was because of this that Yukie was slightly ostracised by her fellow colleagues and that found it difficult to talk to her off-set. However, even Rin couldn't lie that Yukie's acting was superb.

Michi sighed. "She doesn't know the meaning of the words 'motivation' or 'ambition'. She really is quite helpless."

Makino cut in with a frown. "But she doesn't slack off when it comes to working and that is all I care about. I do not care what she does in her private life. As long as she gives a great performance when the camera is on, I am not one to complain. She was born to be an actress."

The room went quiet for a moment. However, there was a low sound of two sets of footsteps approaching.

Sasuke looked up when he felt two familiar chakra signatures appear. He turned his head and saw Akemi and Naruto walking forward. Seeing Akemi and Naruto made Sasuke relax because that meant he wasn't left alone with Sakura anymore.

"Maybe you should Oji-san. If public opinion of her drops then people may not want to see her at all." Akemi said, standing not too far away from everyone with Naruto right beside her. Akemi was also carrying an unconscious Koyuki. The assistant director and Sandayu scrambled over and took Koyuki from Akemi with ease. Akemi easily handed the lost princess over without any fuss.

Kakashi sighed lowly. "What did you two do now?"

"It wasn't our fault sensei! She kept trying to run away and she nearly ran over children with her horse!" Naruto exclaimed, wanting to prove their innocence.

"Besides, if we hadn't, she would have had us chase her for hours," Akemi said, crossing her arms over her chest. This is a hint to everyone in on her secret.

Kakashi seemed to accept this and said no more.

Sasuke was smirking and stood up from his seat, going to stand by Akemi and Naruto. Sakura looked like she was going to jump after him, but stopped herself. She didn't want to move away from Michi but she also wanted to be by Sasuke. Sakura watched as Sasuke interact with Naruto and Akemi. Sakura couldn't help but feel her chest grow tighter in jealousy. Sakura had noticed a change in Sasuke recently since his brother had come back because he had been speaking more lately. Sakura had hoped that this would be her chance to spend more time with Sasuke, but all his attention was on their other two teammates. If Sakura didn't know any better, she would say that those three seemed… closer.

Sakura shook her head, she was just imagining things.

"So, when are we leaving?" Akemi asked, a grin forming on her face. Now that they had Koyuki, they could travel a bit sooner than they had in the anime.

 **NARUTO SHIPPUDEN**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the first instalment of Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. Originally, I was thinking about doing a chapter per movie, but I felt like that would take too long to do. So, instead, I will be splitting a movie into three chapters (maybe less or more) depending on the flow of the movie.**

 **Leave a review and tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow- part two

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **Hi guys, sorry about the AN I left, but I have replaced that for this new chapter. I just want to say that I will not be stopping this story and I will not be deleting these stories either. You guys were right, I shouldn't let this fraud win.**

 **Just to give you guys and update, I have tried to contact this person but they haven't responded to me at all. I private messaged them to give them a chance to explain why they did this. Since I have received no answer, I have been reporting the stories and still nothing has been done about it. I have posted on the discussion page so everyone can see that Haruka has plagiarised my story. I have also decided to post both completed stories on Quotev just to prove that I am the original author. I have even named the stories the Original Retelling of Naruto/Shippuden just to make a point.**

 **I have also recently found out that Haruka did accredit me, stating in the summary that I am the original author. I originally didn't see this as I was too angry to notice this fine detail that wasn't very noticeable. However, they also state that I am an old friend, which is a lie. I do not know this person and do not wish to be associated with them. They said they wanted to share this story in their summary, but never once asked permission for this.**

 **I want to thank everyone for the support they have given me, I really do appreciate it. It is because of you guys that I realised that I shouldn't let Haruka win. You guys have stood by me since the beginning and I will not let you down.**

 **Also, I want to thank chibijmix who posted on the discussion boared telling everyone that I was the original author. Seeing that really made my day and it really warmed by heart to know that my followers are standing by me.**

 **But these stories will continue!**

 **NARUTO**

Kakashi looked at me blankly. He then looked over at the rest of his students and saw that they were ready to go, much like I was. Kakashi watched as Koyuki was taken away Sandayu – her manager – and had more than likely be put on the ship. Now that they had Koyuki, they could sail off quicker, which seemed like the ideal idea as they didn't want the actress running away again. Makino – the director – and everyone else was packing up also, all ready to get on the ship.

"One hour. Pack your stuff and meet at the gates. Remember, we're going somewhere cold, so pack appropriately." Kakashi answered back eventually after a moment of silence. Without another word, he too left.

I nodded my head slowly. Konoha didn't have any docks as there were no large bodies of water around us. However, the nearest dock to us was only a thirty-minute walk from the village itself, which is how it imported a lot of items, such as rare medicine. Konoha produced a lot of items that were sold around the nations, like herbs and food. Konoha was the leading seller in medicine, especially since Tsunade became Hokage.

When Kakashi was out of sight, Naruto grinned and a mischievous look flashed in his eyes. "How about we make a bet?" He asked, a sly tone in his voice.

I looked over to Naruto with narrowed eyes. "What kind of bet?" I asked, feeling cautious. Whenever Naruto had that glint in his eyes, things didn't tend to go right. Either someone ended up angry or property was damaged as a result. The number of times Kakashi had to apologise to civilians caught in the crossfire was actually ridiculous.

Sasuke looked over with an intrigued expression. He didn't say anything and waited for Naruto to finish speaking.

"Let's have a little race. Whoever is finished packing first and arrives as Konoha's gates win." Naruto said, the grin still on his face.

"And what does the winner gain?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow.

Naruto's grin grew wider, "How about the losers have to listen to whatever the winner says for a week?"

My eyes widened slightly. The thought of having Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura following my orders didn't sound very appealing. I didn't know what I would make them do, though I could think of a few funny things. However, it was the bragging right that appealed to me more than anything and made my ego purr in satisfaction. Although, I could tell the thought was also appealing to Naruto because he looked downright excited. Even Sasuke seemed to be thinking about it.

For a moment, Sakura looked enticed by the idea. She sneaked a glance in Sasuke's direction and saw his blank face, which made her mentally shake her head. Sakura scoffed loudly, listening in to what we were saying. "Like hell, I am going to participate with that, right Sasuke-kun?" She said, looking to him for approval.

However, she was ignored by everyone.

"I'm in," I said with a grin.

"So am I," Sasuke said, looking very confident.

Sakura faltered for a moment before yelling out. "If Sasuke-kun is in then so am I!" A determined glint appeared in her eyes, she was going to win this.

I frowned for a moment. I didn't mind Sakura joining in, but the thought of her winning made me shiver in fright. The likelihood of Sakura winning was basically zilch, but I know I should never underestimate any opponent. I knew that if Sakura actually won, she would not be kind and I especially feared for Sasuke.

Quickly, I snapped out of my thoughts. "Ready, set, go!" I yelled out before jumping into the air and heading over to my apartment. I felt everyone else's chakra signature move at lightning speed, everyone was determined to win. However, Naruto's was slower than everyone else and this confused me. However, I mentally shook my head and continued on with the race.

I ran home, pumping chakra into my legs to make myself go even faster. Within seconds, I appeared back home and bolted for my backpack and began throwing in things I would need. I packed my winter cloak, winter clothing that I hardly ever wore. I threw in a few weapons, scrolls and medical equipment. It was at that moment that I was glad that Haku was not there, as I knew he would have distracted me and held me behind. I felt a surge of determination fill me. Usually, when it came to races, Sasuke would win, with me in second place. I didn't want it to be like that this time. I wanted to win against the Uchiha. I wasn't worried about Sakura and only slightly concerned with Naruto. Sasuke was my main competition. All done, I swung my brown backpack over my shoulder and bolted it out of my apartment, making sure to lock it behind me. I bolted on top of the houses and began running, letting the air whip my face as I dashed quickly to the gates of Konoha.

Within seconds, I reached the gate and for a moment, I thought I had won. I stopped in front of the gate, only slightly out of breath, but I think that was the adrenaline rush that I was having at this moment. For a moment, I don't see anyone and that made me feel victorious.

For a moment anyway.

"Hah! I beat you Akemi-chan!" Naruto yelled out with a smug grin. He appeared from behind the tree with his arms crossed over his chest. On his back was a dark brown backpack, filled with all his provision that he would need for the mission.

I stared at Naruto with wide eyes. "What?!" I was completely baffled at how Naruto could have beaten Sasuke and I. "How did you get here so fast? Your apartment is on the other side of Konoha?" I asked him, completely baffled. Naruto was fast, but he wasn't as fast as I or Sasuke. This wasn't me being mean either, it was the truth.

Naruto grinned. "That's what Shadow Clones are for." The glint in his eyes was too smug and so not in Naruto's character.

My mouth dropped for a moment. Just at looking at Naruto's grin, I knew that he had planned this from the start. He had sent a Shadow Clone earlier when we were finding out the details of this bet. He had sent the clone ahead to pack for him and waited. The clone was more than likely coming back to the original by the time we had all split off to pack.

"You Naruto-kun, are a genius." I laughed loudly, throwing my head back in laughter. I couldn't believe it for a moment, but I actually found the situation hilarious.

Naruto looked slightly concerned. "You're not mad?"

I shook my head. "Mad? I am mad that I didn't think of it myself!" I told him honestly. It was times like this that I realised that Naruto was smart. The anime had made him out to be this buffoon that didn't know what he was doing most of the time. But this Naruto, this one I knew, was smart but didn't let too many people know this fact.

This made Naruto relax and he too laughed.

"Looks like Akemi won then," Sasuke said, appearing next to us in a flash. He too had his brown backpack over his shoulder. When he had seen the two of us, he had felt annoyed. Itachi had held him back for a moment, asking him what was happening. It was at that moment that Sasuke regretted Itachi having his day off.

Naruto and I looked at one another before bursting into fits of laughter once more.

Sasuke stared at us with a blank expression. He couldn't understand what was so funny.

I calmed down slightly and turned to Sasuke. "While I am flattered that you hold me in high regard. I didn't win. Naruto-kun won." I told him, the smile still on my face.

Sasuke faltered and his eye twitched.

"Hah! Look who's on top teme!" Naruto exclaimed with a smug expression.

Sasuke glared darkly at the Uzumaki.

"There, there Sasuke," I said, patting his shoulder in mock sympathy. On the inside, I was dying of laughter. I actually didn't mind losing to Naruto because he wasn't rubbing it in my face like Sasuke would with me. Seeing Sasuke get his nose rubbed in his defeat was one of the most satisfying things that I had seen in a while.

Sasuke mumbled lowly. "He probably cheated anyway."

I nodded my head slowly, not replying because I knew I would burst into a fit of laughter once more.

After a few minutes, Sakura appeared with her backpack. She looked at Naruto and me and frowned. But then she looked at Sasuke and beamed brightly. "I knew you would win Sasuke-kun!"

For a moment, no one said anything.

Naruto and I looked at one another once more and burst into laughter. Sasuke's face spoke a thousand words. He looked ready to strike down Naruto and Sakura in one swipe. It had taken Sasuke a few moments to collect himself after his defeat to Naruto, and Sakura had brought it all back in just a few words.

Sakura looked confused. "What's so funny?!" She yelled at us.

"Y-your precious Sasuke-kun didn't win. Naruto-kun did!" I exclaimed loudly, my sides beginning to hurt with how much laughing I was doing. I and Naruto began leaning on one another, nearly falling over because we just couldn't stop.

Sakura looked horrified. "S-Sasuke-kun lost?!"

Sasuke growled lowly at Naruto and me, but we paid no attention to him. We just continued to laugh until we eventually fell to the ground, no longer able to keep ourselves up.

A sigh could be heard. I looked up, trying to catch my breath from laughing so much. I saw Kakashi walking over with a small grin under his mask.

"I leave and you all seem to fall apart." He said with affection in his eye as he looked at us.

I and Naruto shared another grin before getting up. Sakura ended up having to help Naruto up – Kakashi's orders. I went to stand up myself, feeling that my legs were weak from so much laughter. I then saw a hand in my vision and I turn my head to see Sasuke standing next to me, with his arm stretched out, othering me a hand. For a moment, I was shocked because Sasuke hadn't done this before. Usually, when I and Naruto had our laughing fits, Sasuke would roll his eyes at us and walk away. I looked at Sasuke's face and saw he was blushing slightly, he was embarrassed. My gaze softened as I stared at the Uchiha. Sasuke was really trying to make the effort to be friends with me and Naruto. He had pushed everyone away for so long that he didn't know who to communicate with people anymore. But he was trying and that's what mattered most. I had noticed that he was talking more when we met up and he would try to strike up conversations with Naruto, I or Haku.

I smiled at him and took him up in his offer. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up with Sasuke's help. "Thanks," I told him, slightly out of breath from laughter.

Sasuke awkwardly nodded his head. "No problem." He answered quietly. Without another word, he walked away and began teasing Naruto like he usually would.

I smiled at the scene in front of me. I also made a point of ignoring the venomous glare that Sakura was sending me.

 **NARUTO**

It was around an hour and a half into the journey when Koyuki woke up to a shock. Koyuki had burst from her room and screamed out in shock when she saw that we were in the middle of the ocean – something she had been trying to avoid. I smirked victoriously. Since Koyuki hadn't gone to the bar in Konoha, her uncle's spy wouldn't have noticed her and we had been able to sail off hours earlier than we had in the anime. I just hoped that this meant it was going to be a smoother ride than it was in the anime.

When I looked around the ship, I noticed how crowded and messy it was. There was a lot of equipment scattered around so they could make the set when they starting shooting. The crew members were assembling the background, making it look like there had been a battle on the ship and Makino was picky about what time they started shooting as he wanted the perfect lighting for the movie.

Honestly, it was exhausting watching Makino.

Kakashi stood, leaning on the railing of the ship, with Sasuke beside him. I was sat on the ground with Naruto and Sakura was stood on the other side of us. We were all watching as everyone was getting the set together and Koyuki was getting her makeup and costume sorted. I watched as Koyuki seemed to be out of it like she was completely zoned out.

"She's completely different from what I thought she would be. I don't like her attitude." Naruto commented with a frown.

I frowned and didn't say anything. I could tell how disappointed Naruto was by meeting Koyuki. I had known what she was going to be like so I didn't really care, but Naruto did.

Kakashi looked down at his student, looking away from his perverted book. "What are you saying, Naruto? We have to protect her, no matter what. This is an important mission. "

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all look at Kakashi. "Mission?" Sakura asked, looking confused by what he said.

I rolled my eyes. "What did you think this was? A vacation? This is why Kakashi-sensei asked us to watch the movie, right sensei?" I asked, looking at up the scarecrow with a grin on my face. Of course, I knew the answer, I just wanted to rub it in Sakura's face.

Sakura glared at me.

Kakashi chuckled from under his mask. "Of course, Akemi." He said, patting my head lightly.

Sasuke looked at me, arching his eyebrow in my direction. Naruto was also sending me a look. I knew that they were going to grab me later that day to ask for more information. I just grinned mischievously in their direction as a response.

"What rank is this mission?" Naruto asked, looking intrigued.

"An A-rank mission," Kakashi answered simply.

Sasuke frowned. "I can't believe that guarding an actress is going to be difficult." He said, looking at Kakashi with a sceptical expression.

"That's not true Sasuke. Famous people are often targeted. Furthermore, it's difficult to know who the enemy is. So be extremely careful." Kakashi explained to the youngest Uchiha.

I frowned and looked at the ground. I knew who the enemy was. The enemy was Dotō, Koyuki's uncle. There was also those three Land of the Snow ninja that we'd have to face too. My thoughts wondered to their chakra armour and how we could possibly fight against it. It negated all jutsu, but surely there had to be a weak spot.

Naruto leaned closer to me. "Akemi-chan, do you know?" He whispered softly, so Sakura couldn't listen in.

I glanced over at Sakura. She was still marvelling over the actors on the ship, she wouldn't have paid attention to what Naruto was saying. "Later, Naruto-kun," I told him with a smirk on my face.

Naruto grinned back in response.

Sasuke looked over, his gaze narrowed.

"Action!"

Our attention was stolen when everything was ready. All the cameramen were ready to go as they began filming. They were filming the scene when Koyuki discovered that one of her followers had been hit with a killer blow and was dying. I watched as Koyuki acted, in real life and became Princess Fuun. To say I was impressed was an understatement. I watched as she went from a zombie to an emotional princess and was screaming the name of the person who was dying. I looked at Naruto and saw that he was staring at the scene in front of him in amazement. He couldn't believe the transformation Koyuki had made and was in awe. I looked at Sakura and she had a familiar expression. However, I turned to Sasuke and he didn't look impressed.

I stood up and sat on the railing, next to Sasuke. Sasuke spared me a glance but otherwise kept his gaze on the ocean.

"Aren't you going to watch?" I whispered over to him, keeping an eye on the scene in front of me.

Sasuke scoffed. "Not interested."

I nodded my head slowly.

"What I am interested in is this mission," Sasuke said, looking directly into my eyes.

I smirked. I knew Sasuke wanted information, information that I had. Naruto and Sasuke had started to hold back asking me about what is going to happen next – mostly. Ever since they found out about that I came from a different universe, they had been a little weird, but a funny kind of weird. Over any littlest thing that happened, they asked if I knew what was going to happen. Naruto was especially insistent on this. Honestly, I didn't expect anything different though. It was a big bombshell to handle, and I thought that they were doing amazingly. They had calmed down after I had to remind that I didn't know everything.

"I'll explain everything later," I whispered quietly, keeping an eye on Sakura. I didn't want her listening in because I didn't want to deal with a headache later.

 **NARUTO**

The sun was setting and quite frankly I had been bored. There was only so many times I could watch an actor do the same scene over and over again. Koyuki had been brilliant and had only needed one to two shots of the same scene – mainly because she needed her eye drops. However, it had been her co-stars that would mess up their lines or would laugh in a serious moment. But then they needed close-up shots and side shots of the exact same scene. It was too repetitive for my taste. I liked movies, but seeing it being filmed really did take the magic away for me. By the end, Kakashi had sent us all to bed, telling us we needed sleep. But I knew that I was going to end up in talking to Naruto and Sasuke about the mission. Kakashi had sent me a look too, and I knew that he would be too there. I had seen him stare at Koyuki all today, he had recognised her immediately after seeing her. He had helped save her ten years ago when he was still in the ANBU.

Kakashi had got his own room. Naruto and Sasuke would have to share, and I would share with Sakura, something I wasn't frilled about. Neither I nor Sakura spoke to one another as we walked into our room. I silently chose the bed closest to the door and Sakura took the other bed without a word.

It was only when I placed my bag down on the bed, did Sakura speak.

"You know something," Sakura said so suddenly that it almost made me jump.

I turned my head to see Sakura staring at me. "What do I know?" I asked with narrowed eyes. For a moment, I was worried that she knew something about me. Had she been listening in to the short conversation I had with Sasuke or Naruto?

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "With Sasuke-kun. Something has changed in him and I know you know something." She said, accusation in her tone.

I relaxed slightly, she hadn't been listening in. "That is no one's business other than Sasuke's," I said turning my back to her. She wanted to talk about Sasuke and I wasn't interested. It was times like this that I really wished that I didn't have a fangirl has a teammate. If only I had Hinata on the team. That way I would really try and match her Naruto together.

"Sasuke's changed. He's talking more to _you_ and _Naruto_." Sakura sneered as if the idea was completely preposterous and disgusting.

Now, this riled me up. The way she said Naruto's name sickened me. It was as though she was looking down on him. I didn't care what she said about me, because she had used the same tone. But when she spoke about others – especially people who I consider family – then that was a different story.

"Your point?" I hissed lowly, trying to stop myself from reacting. I hated to admit it, but she was right. Sasuke had been spending more time with Naruto and I. He was more inclined to train with us and not on his own anymore, which he used to do all the time.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I mean, why is he wasting time on you guys? He is more open with everyone else, but me. Have you turned him against me?" She demanded, glaring in my direction.

I took a big breath in, trying to calm myself down. There was a bubble of irritation in my chest, one that was reminiscent to when we were in the Land of Waves. However, I would not let her get to me like last time. I refused to let myself get agitated by someone so petty.

"Have you ever thought that he just doesn't like you? All you do is whine and you don't even train." I answered back to her.

Sakura let out a shriek of anger. "Excuse me?!"

Without another word, I picked up my backpack and swung it over my shoulder. I then walked over to the door and opened it.

"Where are you going!?" Sakura exclaimed loudly.

"Away from you. I refuse to share a room with someone I don't trust." I said without a shred of emotion. Since I had my back to Sakura, I didn't see her flinch when I slammed the door shut behind me.

I walked a few doors down and knocked. After a few seconds, Naruto answered the door and looked confused. "What's up Akemi-chan?" He asked, stepping aside so I could enter the room. Sasuke was on the other bed, looking confused to see me also.

"Any chance I could sleep in here. Sakura is being unbearable." I said with a heavy sigh.

Understanding flashed in Naruto's eyes. "Of course, I'm sure teme won't mind," Naruto said, looking over to the only Uchiha in the room. Naruto had a feeling that things weren't going too well when he could hear Sakura yelling from a few doors down. Sasuke and Naruto had wanted to go and check to see what was happening, but then it had gone quiet.

Sasuke looked at us blankly. "I don't care."

I sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys," I said walking in and setting my bag down on the ground, leaning it against a wall. I then walked over to Naruto's bed and sat down, leaning against the wall and facing Sasuke. Naruto sat down beside me after a few seconds, also leaning against like the wall.

"So," Sasuke said, leaning backwards to get himself comfortable. "What can you tell us?" He looked directly at me, waiting for an answer.

Naruto also looked at me, waiting for an answer.

I pursed my lip for a moment. I had noticed that the minute Naruto had closed the door, Sasuke had placed a soundproofing jutsu around the room. So, I knew that it was safe to speak freely at the moment. "Well, for starters, Yukie Fujikaze is actually Koyuki Kazahana, the Princess of the Land of Snow," I said after thinking for a moment. I thought that this would be a good place to start because there was a lot of this story.

Naruto eyes widened. "She's a real princess?!"

Sasuke smirked. "How ironic that she is playing the role of a Princess."

I nodded my head, I had found the irony quite amusing too. "However, when Koyuki was younger, her father was killed by her Uncle, Dotō Kazahana and he set fire to the palace. Kakashi saved Koyuki as she a child and got her away."

"Why would he do such a thing?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"He wanted the Land of Snow's treasure. It's a Hexagonal Crystal and it's the only key to the treasure, which Koyuki is in possession of. Her father gave it to her it to hide it from his brother, right before he was assassinated." I said, holding back the urge to clasp onto the crystal around my neck. I had placed a decoy on Koyuki and she hadn't seemed to have noticed yet. I had the real crystal because I knew how many problems it was going to cause. Also, I liked how pretty it was. I loved the design of it and how it looked. I couldn't help myself and I knew that I had to have it for a while. Back in my old life, I did have a few problems with stealing, I swear I was secretly a kleptomaniac. Honestly, the treasure itself that Dotō wanted wasn't that interesting. It was a heat generator that could get rid of the snow and allow the village to have spring. But that didn't mean that I wanted Dotō to get his hands on it.

Sasuke nodded his head slowly. "So, the uncle wants Koyuki back and he's hunting her down."

"Exactly," I told him. "The Uncle didn't kill Koyuki's dad alone. He had three skilled rogue ninja with him that helped him. We will be seeing them shortly." I warned them. Those three rogue ninjas were powerful. One of them could go toe-to-toe with Kakashi, and the same one wanted to finish the battle he had with Kakashi, all those years ago.

Naruto grinned. "Sounds easy enough. We just need to take down the uncle and Koyuki will take her rightful place."

I frowned but didn't say anything. It wasn't going to be easy at all. Koyuki was terrified of the Land of Snow and it would take a lot of convincing her. In the anime, Naruto was severely battered just to make her realise. I hoped I could avoid Naruto getting injured that much this time around. However, my main concern at that moment was the chakra armours and how we could combat them. I had a few ideas, but I didn't know how effective they were, and I wouldn't know until we saw them.

 **NARUTO SHIPPUDEN**

By the time morning came, there was a commotion outside. When the assistant director woke up that morning, he had spotted a massive iceberg that was blocking their path to the Land of Snow. Technically, we had already entered the Land of Snow, but we weren't at the mainland just yet. However, Makino had seen this as a great opportunity and thought that he had been blessed by the movie gods. He thought that it would be a brilliant idea to shoot some of the scenes on the mountain of an iceberg. Hence, why everyone was awake and why I was stood in the cold, where I didn't want to be.

We were all dressed in our winter clothes. The white medic skirt was still there, but it went over my long black spandex. On my arms, I wore long arm sleeved underneath my flowy kimono top. I also had my light brown cloak over myself, feeling myself shiver in the cold. I was looking at the ship with a longing expression. I had been nice and toasty in the bed with Naruto. I swear that boy was like a radiator – which I highly appreciated in this weather.

I let out a yawn, still tired. Sometimes, it wasn't a good thing that Naruto and I were together because we just spent a lot of the night talking to one another. In the end, Sasuke had to tell us to shut up and go to sleep.

Sasuke smirked beside me. "It's what you get for staying up last night."

I narrowed my eyes. "Shut up," I muttered lowly, still feeling tired. I could feel my eyes drooping and it took everything in me to not fall asleep there and then. I could handle one all-nighter, but two was just criminal.

Sasuke chuckled and shook his head.

Suddenly, I felt three chakra signatures flare up and my eyes shot open. They weren't familiar and I had a feeling they were Dotō's ninja. I immediately reached into my cloak and grabbed my Sais, holding them up. I was proven right very quickly. As Kakashi jumped into the front of Koyuki while sending an attack into the mountains nearby. Kakashi had intercepted an attack from Nadare Rōga as there were two sets of smoke floating in the air. One was an ashier colour and the other smoke a dark black.

"What are you doing?!" Makino yelled out, upset that they had ruined his filming. All the crewmen stopped what they were doing, watching what was unfolding in front of them.

Sasuke looked around, alert. His hand was near his pouch, ready to attack at many moments. He also had his Sharingan activated.

Naruto was also alert, no longer feeling as tired as he did a moment ago. He had jumped up from his sitting position and was looking around frantically.

Nadare Rōga appeared from his hiding spot within the mountain not too far away from where we were. "Just thought we'd welcome you into the Land of Snow," Nadare said with a smirk on his face. He was excited to finally get his rematch with Kakashi, something he had been waiting years for.

Kakashi glared at him with one eye, immediately recognising him.

I felt someone appear next to Sasuke and me next to the pillar of ice. Turning my head, I see Fubuki Kakuyoku, the female of Dato's ninja standing on top of the ice pillar. "I welcome you, Princess Koyuki. Did you bring the hexagonal crystal?" She asked with a smirk etched onto her face.

Kakashi only spared Koyuki a glance. I and Kakashi had already had our talk. After briefing Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi had pulled me out of the room. Initially, Kakashi wanted to know why I wasn't sharing with Sakura, but he hadn't pressed this issue too much. He knew that I and Sakura didn't get on.

Looking away for a moment, I then saw Mizore Fuyukuma jump out from the snow, this time near Naruto. "As expected from Hatake Kakashi. I can't get any closer to you than here." He said while laughing.

Kakashi turned his head slightly to us. "Naruto, Akemi, Sasuke and Sakura. You guys protect Koyuki-san." He was making sure that Nadare was still in his line of sight as he didn't want any unexpected surprises.

I nodded my head, along with everyone else.

"Everyone, get back on the ship!" Kakashi yelled out a warning to all the crew. The crew looked at one another, unsure of whether to move or not. After a few moments of the silent debate, they all got up and moved, with Makino still demanding that they film.

Nadare looked at his other two teammates. "Fubuki, Mizore. Get Princess Koyuki." As he said this, be began running, aiming for Kakashi.

Kakashi charged at Nadare, aiming to fight him. They both stopped when they were a few feet from one another.

"It's been a while, Kakashi. Not going to run away this time?" Nadare asked with a taunting smile.

Kakashi glared at him and didn't bother to answer him. Without another word, they both attacked, using Taijutsu at the moment. Their attacks would meet and instantly break off. It was obvious to any outsiders that they seemed to be at the same level as one another. Nadare was able to go toe-to-toe with Kakashi, and Kakashi wasn't backing down in his attacks.

Naruto, I, Sasuke and Sakura all made a formation around Koyuki, protecting her. The two actors near her, ran away as quick as they could back to the ship.

Naruto grinned in excitement. "This seems just like in the movies. Don't worry Princess, we'll protect you." He said this while charging at Mizore.

As he did this, Mizore pulled out a ski board and jumped onto it. He smoothly slid by Naruto and skated past him a few times. As Mizore did this, Sasuke took the opportunity to throw some kunai his way, only for the kunai to be repulsed. A purple shield pulsed around Mizore, protecting him from any harm. Sasuke threw another one, this time a massive shuriken, only for it to meet the same fate and be destroyed.

I looked at Sakura. "Take her and go back to the ship," I told her, my voice blunt and to the point. We needed to get her out before Sasuke used one of his fire jutsu and would make Koyuki have a traumatic flashback of when her home was burnt down.

Sakura nodded her head and grabbed Koyuki by the hand, leading her away. She gently whispered something to the princess and they began moving. Koyuki's eyes were wide in horror and shock, but she managed to move.

Just as they were about to leave, Fubuki jumped closer and made some hand seals. " **Hyoton: Koori Tsubame No Jutsu**!" Ice forms around her and a rather large group of sharpened kunai shaped icicles. They all flew in Sasuke's direction, aiming for him.

I was about to help when I felt a fourth chakra signature that I didn't recognise. I looked near the ship and noticed a figure appear from the snow. It was a man who looked to be in his late twenties. He had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. He had blue eyes and was in the same gear as his other teammates. Seeing him, my eyes widened. There wasn't a fourth teammate in the anime and this seriously threw me off. Without another thought, I sprang into action and charged in his direction to stop him before he could reach Koyuki and Sakura. Just as this man was about to reach out for the princess, I jumped at him and aimed a kick at his head. At the last moment, the man jumped out of the way in time, this time further away from Koyuki and Sakura.

"Who are you?" I demanded, my eyes narrowed at him.

The man gave me an appraising glance. "You have fast reflexes. My name is Akihiko Yamamoto, and who am I fighting today?" He smiled in my direction, flashing his wide and white grin. His teeth seemed to shine against the snowy terrain.

For a moment I was thrown aside. Akihiko was really charming and I found that my face was getting warm looking at him. "Akemi Nakahara," I told him, taking a moment to compose myself.

Akihiko smiled. "Then I have one request for you, Akemi-chan. Make this interesting for me and don't be boring." He said, his smile only growing wider.

I stared at him for a moment, unsure of how to answer. I had never had this type of request before. Actually, I don't think an enemy had ever requested anything from me.

"I don't like boring people." He said, his smile turning sinister. The aura around him turned very dark, so dark that it sent a shiver down my spine.

After a few moments, I found myself smirking. "You'll find that I am anything but boring," I said, putting away my Sais. I didn't want to risk them getting broken because I really didn't like this pair. After watching what happened to Sasuke's weapons, I wasn't going to risk it.

Akihiko's eyes seemed to light up as his smile formed into a smirk.

Within seconds, we were both gone from our spots. I charged at him at the exact time he charged at me. I aimed a kick at him, and he did the exact same. Our attack met in the middle and we both jumped away from each other. I aimed a punch in his direction and he caught it easily. I flipped my body over his head and aimed a kick at his neck. Akihiko grabbed my foot and threw me away. I grabbed six kunai from my pouch, each with exploding tags on them and I threw them at Akihiko. Akihiko's eyes widen and tried to jump away, only to get caught in the explosion. There had been too many for him to completely doge. Once the smoke cleared, I saw some damage on the armour which satisfied me. However, I also noticed the smirk on Akihiko's face, he looked delighted that I had injured him.

"I have a feeling I am going to enjoy crushing you," Akihiko muttered softly.

I was about to respond, but at that moment, I felt Kurama's chakra flare up. My eyes widened as I looked out for Naruto. I found him fighting with Mizore. Naruto's eyes were red, but he wasn't emitting Kurama's chakra like he usually would. I felt myself calm slightly, knowing that Naruto wasn't going to lose control.

However, my attention was soon brought back when I felt Akihiko appear in front of me. I instantly jumped back, just barely missing Akihiko's attack. I didn't say anything and our dance commenced once more. Akihiko's attacks became more insistent and full of passion. He was really enjoying this. I could see it in his blue eyes that he was enjoying himself. As we attacked each other using Taijutsu, my thoughts trailed to the chakra armour. It was similar to my own – it's where I had originally got my idea to make a chakra shield of my own – but theirs was in a physical form. I knew that jutsu had absolutely no effect so I wasn't going to waste my chakra. However, I remembered that Taijutsu seemed to be the most effective, along with explosive tags.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when a massive whale made of ice broke out from the ground below me and Akihiko. I quickly jumped away onto safer ice and Akihiko seemed to do the same. I looked around and saw that Dotō's ninja had been separated from us and Kakashi was doing this so we could make our escape.

I looked at Akihiko and saluted him. "Until we meet again," I said with a smirk.

Amusement flashed in his eyes. "Indeed." He said, standing on the ice calmly.

Seeing an opportunity, I ran back to Naruto and Sasuke. Now together, we rushed back to the ship to make our escape with Kakashi. On Kakashi's back was an unconscious Sakura, who had got in the way of Mizore's attack when he tried to grab Koyuki. As we reached the ship, I noticed that Makino and the crew were still filming, all with looks of awe on their faces. I nearly laughed at this. Of course, Makino wouldn't stop filming, no matter what.

 **NARUTO**

 **Hey guys, another chapter done!**

 **Tell me, what do you guys think about Akihiko? I thought it would be a fun idea to add him so Akemi could have someone to fight.**

 **At the end of this movie, I will reveal what Naruto will make Akemi, Sasuke and Sakura do. If you guys have any ideas what Naruto's (evil) plan should be then leave me a comment in either my PM or a review!**

 **Also, it's more than likely that I will be splitting these movies up into more than three chapters, more like four or five. I forgot that I tended to pad things out (it's been that long) and I am not willing to write longer chapters anymore because it's so time consuming.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow- part three

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **Just to let you know, Haruka's account on Quotev has disappeared. I don't know if it because of my constant reporting them or it's because they actually grew a conscious.**

 **I am also sorry for not posting in such a long time. Ever since finding out what Haruka did, there was a period of time where I didn't want to write this story at all. I was even tempted to stop writing altogether due to my mental health worsening. However, my Harry Potter story was the only thing keeping me going at one point which was why I have only been updating that story so far. That story almost become like a baby and it reminded me of my love for writing. You guys are right that I shouldn't let Haruka win by giving up. It's taken me a while to realise this but I thank everyone that has stayed by this story. This is for you guys!**

 **Also, I am going to be writing this chapter in third person. A guest suggested this (a while ago – sorry!) and I thought I would give it a go. However, if you guys don't like it then I will go back to first person!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **NARUTO**

After they had all managed to get back on the ship, Sandayu had taken Koyuki back to her room so she could rest. She had passed out while Sakura was trying to get her back to the ship. However, in Akemi's eyes, that had been the best result because it meant that Koyuki couldn't fight back and resist – making their job easier. Now, they were all gathered in one room, sitting around a table. Makino, Sandayu and the Assistant Director sat on one side, and Akemi, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sat on the other side, all in that order. Kakashi was leaning against the wall and was looking out the window. No one had spoken since coming into the room and the Assistant Director looked downright nervous and Sandayu looked guilty – for good reason too.

Kakashi broke the silence, "So, Sandayu-san, you knew?" He asked the man, even though he already knew the truth.

Sandayu looked down at the table, "Yes." He couldn't look anyone in the eyes because he felt guilty. He had hidden the most important facts and had deceived everyone around him. He didn't like it, but it was to protect Koyuki.

"You must have known how she was going to react if she were to return here," Kakashi said with a sigh in his tone.

Sandayu frowned but nodded his head. "This is the only way that I could bring her back to this county." He knew that if he had asked her, she would have run away and never come back and that's what made this job so risky. She was already trying to run away before they even set sail.

Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke all share a look with one another. They already knew that she was a real Princess, thanks to the information that Akemi had shared. So when he revealed this bit of information, they didn't even bat an eyelash at it. However, Sakura did not know this and was the most shocked person in the room.

"What?!" Sakura cried out, her eyes widened in shock. "She can't be a real Princess!" She was leaning forward in her chair and looked ready to stand up from shock, but she resisted. However, she couldn't hide the shock in her voice.

"She is a real Princess," Kakashi cut in, sending a scolding look to his pink haired student.

Sakura flushed in embarrassment and looked down at the table.

Kakashi continued, "Fujikaze Yukie is a fake name. Her real name is Kazahana Koyuki and she is the heiress of the Snow Country." He said, looking at everyone in the room. He wasn't surprised when only Sakura visibly reacted to his words.

Sakura gasped loudly and flushed even redder when everyone turned to look at her.

Sandayu frowned deeply, "The last time I was with her, she was very young. It is not surprising that she doesn't remember me." He said in an almost saddened tone.

"Can you explain what happened then?" Akemi asked, leaning back in her seat. Even though she already knew most of the details, she still felt like it would be good to have a refresher of what happened. It would also give the chance for the others in the room to hear this information. She had only told them brief facts that they needed to know. Akemi did consider that she could have missed something too and she just wanted to make sure she didn't.

Taking a deep breath, Sandayu began speaking once more. "I used to serve at the side of the country's previous King, Kazahana Sousetsu-sama. The Snow Country was a small, but beautiful country. Sousetsu-sama loved his daughter very much and they lived a very peaceful life. But ten years ago, that incident… Sousetsu-sama's younger brother, Dotō, hired some ninja and revolted and then took over this country. He burnt the beautiful Kazahana Castle and we all thought we'd lost the Princess." As he spoke, they could all hear the pain in his voice. He was shaking as he spoke and sometimes his voice would waver. But one thing Akemi picked up on, was the agony in his tone. Even ten years later, the memory still pained him.

Kakashi jumped in at that point. "I couldn't win against them at that time. I had to run away. I had no choice but to run away." He said, sounding regretful. He had been assigned the mission to protect Koyuki from any harm. This is why he ran away because he needed to priorities Koyuki's safety above all, even Sousetsu's – the leader of the Land of Snow.

"I found the Princess when she was on stage. I was overjoyed… at how she… how she managed to survive." Sandayu cried, only making it halfway through his sentence before tears fell from his eyes at a rapid pace.

Akemi's eyes caught something and she turned her head to the left. She saw Koyuki standing at the door frame with her pink cloak covering her. Akemi wouldn't have thought anything of it, but then she looked at Koyuki's eyes. There was nothing but coldness in them like Koyuki was void of any and every emotion. It almost shocked Akemi but it didn't at the same time. She had seen that look in so many people's eyes – Sasuke, Itachi, Haku and sometimes Naruto when he got inside his own head.

It was only after a few seconds of silence did Koyuki speak. "It would have been better if I had died that day." She said, her icy tone cutting into the silence.

Everyone turned to look at her, all with different reactions to her words. Makino, Sasuke, Akemi and Kakashi gave no reaction to her words, appearing indifferent. Sakura looked shocked to hear her say such a thing and Naruto looked angry. However, it was Sandayu who looked the most distraught.

"Please, don't say that," Sandayu whispered lowly, tears still rolling down his face. "To us, the fact that you are still alive gives us hope."

Koyuki frowned, "Even if I am still alive, my heart is already dead. Ever since that incident, my tears have dried up." Her eyes seemed to grow darker as she spoke.

Sandayu wiped his tears away, "After the incident, I somehow managed to become Fujikaze Yukie's manager. I waited until I finally got the chance to bring the Princess back to this country." He said, finishing his story.

The Assistant Director looked shocked "Eh? So all this time, you were using us?" For a moment, he looked hurt by his betrayal.

Sandayu turned to face him and bowed in his seat. "No, well… I apologise for fooling all of you, but this is for the Snow Country." With that, he stood up and walked over to Koyuki before falling to his hands and knees. "Princess Koyuki! You must overthrow Dotō and become our new Queen!" He begged, trying his best to convince her. Koyuki was the only person who had a right to do so as it was her birthright. If she were to take back the Land of Snow then it would prosper, just like when her father was the leader.

Koyuki stared at him with a dead look in her eyes.

"I, Sandayu, will protect you with my life! So, please fight with us!" He bowed his head, so his forehead was touching the wooden floor.

Koyuki stared at him for a moment before answering. "No."

Sandayu looked up, devastated. "What?"

"Don't joke with me." Koyuki snapped back at him harshly.

"But the people of the Snow Country…" Sandayu protested weakly.

Koyuki turned her head away from him. "That's none of my business. I refuse."

"Princess …" Sandayu muttered lowly in defeat.

This seemed to set her off even more than before. "Give it up already! Are you stupid? No matter how hard you try, there is no way you can defeat Dotō." Koyuki exclaimed, her voice getting louder. Her fists were clenched in anger and her form was shaking.

Sandayu whimpered at her words.

Naruto scowled darkly. "Don't say the words 'give up' that easily." He said, standing up to glare at the Princess. "This old man is risking his life to make that dream come true. Don't you dare make fun of it."

Sandayu stared at Naruto in admiration. "Naruto-dono…"

"Because you wouldn't give up, you'll be able to see a dream. Because you're able to see a dream, the future will come. This is nice. What a perfect theme of the final chapter of the Unlucky Princess." Makino said, getting everyone's attention.

Akemi frowned. She had always been confused by his statement in the anime, but now she was starting to understand.

The Assistant Director looked confused. "Director… don't tell me that you are going to continue filming…" He had thought for sure that this film was over. There was no way they could continue after this in his eyes, but obviously, Makino thought differently.

Makino grinned widely. "I told you that this film is changing." He had a feeling in his bones, he knew that this would be changing.

"No way!" The Assistant Director exclaimed.

"Think about it, using a real Princess and making it a movie. It's something that happens once in a lifetime." Makino said with the grin still on his face. He hadn't heard of any other director's use a real Princess in their films so he knew that this would give them an edge and make them stand out.

The Assistant Director soon clicked onto what he was saying. "Oh, I see. It's going to be a great success and we can film the movie and earn big bucks! If we do this, it is going to be a real hit!" The very thought made him excited. He could practically taste all the awards they were going to win.

"Wait for a second!" Koyuki cut in.

However, she and everyone else was cut off when Kakashi spoke. "Unfortunately, there is only one option left. There isn't a place where you can hide now that Dotō has discovered you." Kakashi said, looking to Koyuki as he said this.

Koyuki grit her teeth.

"So, it looks like you are going to have to fight this to live," Akemi said, staring at Koyuki with an arched brow. There was literally no other option. Even if Koyuki ran away, she would be found by Dotō because she was now in his domain. It was too late for running away. The only way Koyuki was going to make it out as if she fought for it.

Naruto grinned. "Okay, this is mission will continue! Princess Fuun will go to the Snow Country and defeat the evil commander."

"Don't fool around!" Koyuki shouted in anger, "Reality is different from the movie. There is no such thing as a happy ending in this world!" Her fists clenched as she thought of her father. Her father had always talked about a happy ending but she knew that they didn't exist.

Makino snapped back, "If you put in the effort, you will be able to pull through!"

Koyuki flinched back. Makino had never used that tone with her before and it shocked her. It was enough to make her silent for now.

Kakashi looked to his students. "For such a mission, we should return to the village and get more people." He said, arching a brow under his Hitaiate. He was waiting for their reactions because he knew they weren't going to like this. However, he had a sneaking suspicion that they weren't going to be turning back and his students were going to make sure of that.

"That would be a waste of time," Sasuke said, speaking up for the first time. "We're more than enough for the mission." He was leaning into his seat with his arms crossed over his chest. He was more than confident that they could handle whatever came their way.

Akemi nodded her head, agreeing with him. "Also, it would take too long. Something could happen in the meantime." She said, hinting heavily on what was about to come. As she said this, she looked directly at Kakashi. It was also meant for her teammates who seemed to catch on quickly. Once they heard this, Naruto sent a pleading look in Kakashi's direction and Sasuke was staring at him with an expecting look. He had no intentions of abandoning this mission just as it was getting interesting.

Kakashi seemed to get the hint and subtly nodded his head.

Sandayu looked ready to cry, "You all…"

"Well, that's decided. The film is continuing." Makino said sounding happy.

"Let's make it a film with a happy ending." The Assistant Director suggested in excitement.

Koyuki just watched them with a dead expression.

 **NARUTO**

A few hours had passed since that meeting and they had all docked at the nearest harbour and were now on the road driving vans. Koyuki had confined herself to a van since the beginning of the road journey and has refused to move from there since. Akemi and Naruto had agreed that she was just sulking – but Akemi knew that Koyuki was just biding her time and was waiting for the right opportunity to run away like she always did. They all eventually stopped when Makino had demanded they stop so they can film some more. Once they had stopped, Naruto and a few other males ran out of the van to relieve themselves, staining the white snow yellow.

"Men," Sakura grumbled under her breath, watching Naruto from the window.

Akemi grinned slightly, but she couldn't help but agree. Without another word, Akemi stood up and walked out of the van, her legs needing to be stretched after being stationary in the van for so long. Raising her arm, she stretched herself and felt her joints pop. Sighing in relief, Akemi lowered her arms again and smiled in content. Taking this chance, Akemi watched as everyone began to unload everything they would need for the shoot. Makino was standing around, shouting his orders of where he wanted certain props and the camera. People were running around like headless chicken trying to keep up with his orders. Seeing that everyone was fully distracted, Akemi looked to the van that Koyuki was staying in. Koyuki had made it clear that she wanted to be on her own – even going as far as to kick Sandayu out as the same van as her. No matter how much Koyuki tried to hide it, Akemi could see the pain in her eyes over Sandayu's betrayal. He has tricked her and brought her back to a country that had caused her so much pain. It was in that moment that Akemi was stuck. Soon, Koyuki would try to escape and run away. However, this would be a chance for Naruto to break through her icy heart and make her believe in doing the 'impossible'. The issue was, Akemi didn't know if she should intervene. If she did, then it could decrease the chance of Koyuki being kidnapped by her demented uncle, but if she did, would Naruto still be able to get through to Koyuki at all?

Just then, the Assistant Director ran out of Koyuki's van with a look of pure panic. "Director! She is gone! Yukie's ran away!" He shouted loudly, letting everyone know the news. He ran straight to Makino with the news.

Kakashi sighed as he walked out the van, "We'll find her. Let's go." He said, jumping up onto the mountain to get a better look.

"Hai!" Sakura shouted as she followed after him with Naruto hot on her tail.

Akemi sighed and shook her head, Koyuki had been so quick to make her escape that it was almost impressive. However, Koyuki had been spending most of her life running away so it was no surprise that she was really good at it.

Just as Akemi was about to follow after her team, she spotted Sasuke watching her. "Yes?" Akemi asked, tilting her head in confusion. She thought that the young Uchiha would be the first to run after Koyuki so he could get on with the mission.

"You knew," Sasuke said plainly.

Akemi frowned but nodded her head, "I did yes."

"Then why not stop it? She could be in danger." Sasuke said, his eyes narrowed at his teammate. He couldn't understand why she hadn't intervened and just make the job easier. That's what she usually did anyway but not this time and that's what confused him.

Staring right back at him, Akemi answered. "Koyuki is closed off from everyone and she doesn't believe in anything or herself. Naruto-kun can get through to her, he can make her believe. If I had intervened, that may have delayed it." She answered simply, not one to be intimidated by Sasuke's narrowed gaze. She was one of the very few people that could stare right back at him.

Sasuke frowned but seemed to understand what she was saying.

"Now come on, let's go find her," Akemi said, walking past him with a smile. As she passed him, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be dragged.

A few moments later, Akemi stood on top of the mountain as her eyes looked down at the ground below her. Sasuke had gone off in another direction along with Sakura and Kakashi. He had told them that if they found Koyuki then to send a chakra signal. However, Akemi knew that Naruto was going find Koyuki so she was looking for Naruto. His chakra was easy to distinguish more so than Koyuki's chakra. Akemi had always found it easier to distinguish chakra signatures of other ninjas but seriously struggled with civilians. Since civilian's chakra wasn't as developed, they didn't give off distinguishable signatures, whereas ninjas did. Akemi was also looking for a flash of orange from Naruto's jumpsuit – something that could be seen from miles away. It didn't take long for Akemi to find Naruto's chakra signature, and once she did, Akemi began running in that direction. Within minutes, Akemi had found Naruto. He was standing by the side and watching Koyuki – who had fallen on the ground and was passed out.

"Well, that was easy," Akemi said with humour in her tone.

Naruto glanced at her and grinned slightly, but it didn't reach his usually sparkling blue eyes.

Sighing lightly, Akemi asked, "What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" She looked at him, giving him her full attention. She could see that something was on his mind and she wanted him to get it off his chest.

"She's given up. You can see it in her eyes." Naruto said, his voice low. He was saddened to see his idol in such a state. He had really loved her films and always looked forward to watching anything that Koyuki was in. It was disappointing to see his idol so lifeless and full of nothingness.

Akemi smiled sadly and nodded her head, agreeing with everything that he said. "She just needs a little push, Naruto-kun." She was very confident that Naruto would be the one to bring Koyuki out from her shell, if not then she was going to rip it out of Koyuki by force.

Naruto looked at Akemi and nodded his head.

Just then, Koyuki groaned as she came back to the land of the living. Weakly, she opened her eyes and looked in their direction – almost sensing their presence. "You two again. How did you find me?" She asked weakly, choosing not to move from her position of lying in the snow.

"Your scent, I followed that," Naruto answered simply with a blank expression.

Akemi arched a brow at him and smiled widely. "Are you sure you're not part of the Inuzuka Clan?" She asked in a teasing tone. But in all honesty, she hadn't even picked up on Koyuki's perfume but it just showed how much in tune Naruto was with his senses. However, now that Naruto had mentioned it, Akemi could smell a flowery scent and it reminded her of a perfume shop in Konoha.

Naruto's eye twitched and his head whipped in her direction, "Don't you dare compare me to that baka!" Naruto exclaimed in frustration. This reaction caused Akemi to laugh loudly, throwing her head back in laughter. It was always fun to tease Naruto and it seemed to break any tension in the area. This only served to make Naruto more annoyed with her and he began shouting at her, telling her how much better he was than Kiba.

Koyuki was watching the two of them, seeming fascinated.

"Akemi-chan, stop it!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Still giggling, Akemi tried to calm herself down. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun." She said with a large smile on her face.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto soon grinned too.

Both the ninja's attention was stolen when they heard a huff. Akemi turned her head to see that Koyuki was attempting to stand up, but was struggling and had fallen back down into the snow. Giving a quick glance over, Akemi saw Koyuki's legs twitching and weren't cooperating with her at the moment which was why she was having such a hard time standing up.

Akemi was about to go help her, but Naruto beat her to it. Naruto walked over to the Princess and kneeled down in front of her, his back facing her. "Get on," Naruto said.

Koyuki glared at him.

"You're not able to walk at the moment. If we leave you any longer you will start to become hypothermic." Akemi said, also walking forward. She knew that she was probably going to have to help Koyuki onto Naruto's back.

Still, Koyuki didn't move an inch. "Just let me die. That's what Dotō is going to do when he finds me." She muttered softly, the void look in her eyes coming back once more.

Naruto glared at the snow in front of him, his form becoming tense. He was becoming sick of her attitude – he didn't like it. Akemi briefly glanced over at her teammate, understanding that if she didn't say something than Naruto would.

"If your father could see you know, he'd probably be disappointed," Akemi said plainly, her own face void of any emotion.

Koyuki stiffened in the snow and her eyes widened.

"You're taking the life that has been given to you for granted. I know ninja – _people_ – who have been through either something similar or worse. But they haven't become like you. They've done something with their lives and tried to move past it." Akemi said softly, her voice barely above a whisper, but she knew that Koyuki heard every word. Akemi knew that she should probably feel guilty for what she is saying, but she had decided that Koyuki needed a tough love approach because quite frankly, everyone was sick of her attitude.

Koyuki's lips quivered, but no tears gathered in her eyes.

"Now get on his back. I'm cold." Akemi said dryly, glaring at the Princess. Her patients had come to end with Koyuki and the cold wasn't helping at all. Even with her long sleeved shirt and cloak, Akemi could still feel the chill and icy wind.

Without another word, Koyuki managed to climb onto Naruto's back. Once she was secure, Naruto and Akemi began to walk back to where everyone else was. While Naruto was carrying Koyuki, Akemi quickly sent a chakra signal to Sasuke and Kakashi to inform them that they had found the Princess. It didn't take long for their teammates to send one back as well, indicating that they were heading back to the main site where all the crew were gathered. As they were walking, Naruto sent a worried glance over to Akemi, which she just smiled at and nodded her head, silently telling him that she was okay.

"Did you send a signal?" Naruto asked, turning his head slightly to look at his teammate.

Akemi nodded her head. "I did yes. We should meet back to the main site."

Naruto nodded his head and concentrated on not dropping Koyuki. He had to pump chakra into his arms so he could hold her weight. She wasn't heavy, but she felt like a dead weight on top of him and it made it slightly difficult to carry her and walk at a brisk pace.

It didn't take long before the trio began walking through a cave. Akemi and Naruto had recognised it as they had just driven through it no more than an hour ago. Akemi knew that as soon as they reached the other side, they would be reunited with everyone else. However, at the same time, she was cautious. She knew that they would see Dotō on the other side and a massacre would happen and it was something that she wasn't looking forward to.

After a few more moments of silence, Koyuki spoke. "Why come after me?" She asked softly.

Naruto didn't skip a beat. "You're my mission. Like it or not, I will chase you wherever you go."

Grinning, Akemi snickered. "Watch it Naruto-kun, you sound like a stalker."

Naruto pouted. "Akemi-chan!"

Akemi laughed, the sound echoing through the cave loudly but no one seemed to mind. It was better than the silence they had been walking in previously.

"Just leave me. I will just act in front of the camera. I am not going to do anything else." Koyuki said.

"If we did, we wouldn't be very good escorts," Akemi answered back with a straight face. She was in a much better mood than she was before and it was because she was warming up. Being in the cave meant she was away from the icy air. It was still cold, but this was bearable. There was something about the icy cold and blistering heat that put her in a bad mood.

Just then, a high pitched whistle sound echoed behind them. Turning around, Naruto and Akemi looked at one another and then into the darkness. They couldn't see anything up ahead and for a moment, Akemi didn't know what the sound was. But then it clicked. In this universe, there weren't many trains – only the rich or famous got to ride in them so that's why it took her by surprise.

"Run," Akemi said as the whistle sound went off again, this time more clearly.

Naruto and Koyuki looked at her, "What?" Naruto asked confused.

"Now!" Akemi yelled as she turned around to run away.

Naruto's eyes widened as he immediately followed her instructions. It wasn't very often Akemi used that tone and it made him want to listen. Koyuki's grip on his shoulders tightened as Naruto picked up the pace and was now side-by-side with Akemi. They were both running fast, pumping chakra into their legs to maintain their speed. It was in that moment that Naruto noticed train tracks appear on the ground and that's when he realised what that sound was. Akemi looked at the sides, thinking maybe they could jump out of the way, but there wasn't enough room and they would get instantly crushed by the train if they even thought of it.

Light from the train filled the cave as it got closer to them.

"We're not going to make it!" Koyuki screamed in fright. "We're going to be crushed!"

"We will not!" Naruto shouted back as they continued to run.

Koyuki shook her head, "It's impossible!" She shouted again.

"No it's not!" Akemi yelled back at her, concentrating on not falling behind or tripping. She knew that if she did any of those things then it wasn't going to end very well for her. She didn't want to die a third time.

Naruto grit his teeth, "I will not give up!" He yelled back at her.

The whistle of the train went off again, this time much closer than what it was before.

"But it's definitely impossible!" Koyuki yelled, her eyes wide in fright.

Naruto growled lowly under his breath. "Shut up and be quiet!" Naruto shouted at her.

Koyuki closed her eyes. "Even if you do this, it's pointless. It's over!" She screamed in anguish.

"Oh, would you shut up!" Akemi shouted at her, not needing this attitude at the moment.

"I will not let it be over! If you say that we are going to give up, I will try harder and never give up!" Naruto shouted as he pumped more chakra into his legs, allowing himself to go even faster.

Akemi saw this and did the same, not wanting to be left behind. Briefly turning her head, Akemi saw that the train was behind them by a couple of feet and was quickly gaining on them. On the inside, Akemi did feel herself panic. Back in her old world, the thought of out-running a train was actually impossible and that fear was still with her. But she was confident that they could do this, they wouldn't be run over by a train.

Koyuki's grip on Naruto tightened even more.

Akemi looked ahead and saw the exit. It was a welcomed light that gave her some relief, but she refused to let up now especially when the end was in sight. "Just a little more!" Akemi yelled over with a grin on her face.

Naruto flashed a grin back, but Koyuki looked horrified.

Naruto and Akemi pumped more chakra into their legs and ran even faster, still having a lead on the train behind them. Within seconds, they reached the exit and jumped sideways as soon as they could, landing on the soft and cold snow. Koyuki flew off Naruto's back and onto the ground, with Naruto and Akemi landing on her right. As soon as they had landed, the train shot out of the cave at a fast speed. Akemi began to pant at the energy she had used and she was sweating slightly. It was in that moment she was actually thankful for the cold breeze on her face – which she had been cursing just an hour ago. Naruto was also panting beside her and he turned to look at her. Once Naruto and Akemi made eye contact they both burst out laughing, not believing what they had just done.

Koyuki got up and looked at both of them. She was also panting, but it was from the adrenaline of being in such a stressful situation. She stared at Naruto and Akemi in wonder and shock. She couldn't understand how they could both be laughing in a moment like that.

However, the moment was broken when a voice sounded through a speaker.

" _It's been a while, Koyuki_."

Akemi's eyes widened as she jumped up. She had just heard Dotō's deep voice and it made her come back to her senses. Akemi jumped in front of Koyuki in a defensive stance, with Naruto right by her. He too had jumped up and was now standing defensively in front of Koyuki. Looking ahead, Akemi could see the train that had nearly run them over, it was stopped a few hundred feet away from them.

"Kazahana Dotō…" Koyuki whispered softly, she had also recognised that voice. The one that haunted her dreams and nightmares.

" _So, it's been ten years_ ," Dotō said through the speaker. " _Now, let me see your face_."

Akemi's eyes focused on him. She could see him standing out in the open with Nadare Rōga standing right next to him, acting as his guard. She grabbed her Sais from her side and watched as Dotō's gaze narrowed as he looked at them. He couldn't see his niece because Akemi and Naruto were standing in the way.

Before Dotō could say anything, eight logs feel down from the hill beside Naruto and Akemi. The logs came crashing down the hill at a furious speed and slammed into the train with force. Looking to the side, Akemi could see samurais – around fifty of them. They stood with weapons in their hands and fire in their eyes. In the middle of the stood Sandayu.

Sandayu spoke loudly, "Everyone. Our Princess Koyuki is watching. Victory will be ours!" He yelled, hyping up the samurai. It seemed to be working as they all cheered in agreement, throwing their fists or weapons up in the air and yelling loudly.

Naruto looked confused. "What?"

"Sandayu…?" Koyuki whispered in shock. She had never seen him like this before and it astounded her.

Sandayu drew his sword from his sheath, "Kazahana Dotō! Do you know how long we have waited for this day? I am Asama Sandayu, a representative of the 50th Brigade. Now, we will avenge the death of Kazahana Sousetsu-sama from a decade ago and we will take it out on you!" He yelled loudly with passion and fire in his eyes.

The samurai around them cheered loudly in agreement.

Dotō looked amused by this and arched a brow. "Oh, there are people like this still around."

Rōga bowed his head. "I apologise, I will deal with them immediately." He said lowly.

"No," Dotō said as a malicious grin spread across his head, "They need to experience something that is absolutely hopeless."

With a loud roar, the samurai ran down from the hill with their weapons raised. They were ready to fight for what they believed in or die trying.

The carriages on the train opened, revealing mortar-mounted train compartments and Dotō's henchmen were seating to control the machines. Within seconds. Thousands of kunai shot out from the train compartments and pierced anything in the way.

Akemi closed her eyes, not wanting to witness the massacre. The screams of pains and the smell of blood in the air were enough to give her nightmares for life. In the anime, it had been so interesting to watch, but not in real life. She did struggle with the killing aspect, but that was because of the morals she had grown up with in her old life and they seemed to be still clinging on. However, she was slowly getting used to it, she just needed more time. She so desperately wanted to help but she was unsure. This would give Naruto the motivation to want to destroy Dotō but Akemi so desperately wanted to help the samurai.

The assault lasted minutes at most. Within seconds, half of the Brigade had been wiped out by the kunai, having very little to defend themselves against the assault. After a few more seconds, the kunai stopped shooting and all that was left was silence. Akemi reopened her eyes and saw the massacre in front of her. Thousands upon thousands of kunai lay in the snow and most of the snow was stained crimson from all the blood that had been shed. Kunai either lay in the snow or were deeply embedded into the dead bodies of the samurai.

Naruto glared at Dotō will hatred in his blue eyes as Koyuki stared at the scene in horror. Naruto's glare was filled with hatred which was only made worse when he heard Dotō laughing in victory.

However, one samurai remained standing and it was Sandayu. He was heavily wounded as blood poured from his head and other wounds. Most of his armour had been cut, showing where the kunai had passed him. He too had kunai deeply embedded into his body and he was staggering to walk.

"Sandayu," Koyuki whispered softly.

Dotō saw one last survivor and gave the order to shoot him down. One last round of kunai shot out from the machine and was heading straight for Sandayu. However, before the kunai could hit Sandayu, a massive shuriken zoomed in and stopped them in time. With that, Sandayu fell to the ground, dying.

Sasuke ran forward and picked up his fallen shuriken and went to hide behind some snow. As he did, he launched an explosive kunai at the train and destroyed one of the compartments. Sakura stood at the top of the snowy hill and sent an explosive down, causing an avalanche of snow to plummet down and nearly knock over the train. Seeing no other choice, Dotō retreated back into the train and a loud whistle echoed from the train as it began to depart, making a fast getaway. As it rode over a wooden bridge, more explosives went off, causing the bridge to collapse and taking down the train with it. However, before all of the train fell down into the abyss, the lock connecting the trains broke off, leaving three compartments room to speed off as the other half of the train fell down into the abyss with a loud crash.

Seeing her opportunity, Akemi ran forward and to Sandayu to check his vitals. She didn't know how long he had but she knew that in the anime that he had died within seconds. This was something that she wanted to prevent and this may be her only opportunity without looking out of place. Koyuki needed Sandayu – even though she never said it out loud, he had been one of the only stable presences in her life. That's why Koyuki was hurt when Sandayu brought her back to the Country where her father was assassinated. When she takes back the Land of Snow, Koyuki was going to need someone she trusted by her side and Sandayu was definitely the man for the job. Upon reaching him, Akemi performed a quick diagnostic check. The kunai had caught him on a few main arteries, one of them being the brachial artery. Akemi acted quickly and began healing up the injuries that were causing him to bleed out, if she stopped the bleeding then it meant that he had a chance of surviving. It seemed as though as Sandayu was a fighter because she could feel his pulse – as faint as it was but it was still there.

"Work with me Sandayu," Akemi muttered lowly, pumping chakra into his body to heal all his external and internal wounds. She was just happy that his body was accepting her chakra otherwise it would have made her job ten times harder.

Sasuke appeared behind her. "How is he?" He asked as he watched his teammate work. He never said it out loud, but he had always been fascinated by how medics worked. He was never interested in becoming one but it was interesting to watch the process of fixing someone.

Akemi frowned, concentrating on what she was doing. "It's a work in progress." She muttered lowly. From what she saw, if she hadn't intervened and stopped the bleeding then Sandayu would have died from blood loss within seconds of him hitting the ground.

"Is there anything I can do?" Sakura asked, suddenly appearing next to Sasuke. She had seen Akemi and Sasuke talking and she didn't like this. She also wanted to look good in front of Sasuke and at least appear useful.

This seemed to startle Akemi as she sent Sakura an incredulous expression. "Okay… how about you go check if there are any survivors?" She said with uncertainty. Sakura had never asked to help her before which was why she was so shocked.

Sakura nodded her head and walked off but not before glancing at Sasuke one last time. She was hoping that he was impressed but he appeared indifferent. This made Sakura frown as she began checking for any survivors.

Akemi snorted in amusement, she had seen the look Sakura sent Sasuke. She instantly understood Sakura's game and it amused her.

"That was weird," Sasuke muttered lowly.

"You're telling me," Akemi said with a small grin on her face.

"Akemi-chan!" Naruto yelled as he ran over, "Is Sandayu-san okay?!" He stopped when he close so he could kneel down beside her. A few paces behind him was Koyuki, she seemed to be hesitant about how close she should get. She stood behind Naruto, looking awkward and out of place.

"I'm working on it, Naruto-kun," Akemi answered him with a patient smile. He wasn't out of the woods yet at all. For Sandayu to make a full recovery, he needed a blood transfusion but that wasn't accessible at the moment. Unless he got that, it was going to take a while for his own body to recover all the lost blood.

Koyuki sighed deeply. "Just give up. It's hopeless."

Akemi grit her teeth, "I will not give up. I will heal him and he will live." She was going to prove Koyuki wrong or die to try. She would not let Sandayu die.

Naruto scowled darkly. "He cared for you so much and you can't even shed one single tear! He nearly died!" Naruto exclaimed at the Princess.

"I can't cry, he has my eye drops," Koyuki answered back blankly. Just as she said, no tears were gathered in her eyes at all, she just stared at Sandayu's bloody face with a blank stare – almost uncaring.

Even Sasuke frowned at this statement.

After a few more seconds, Akemi stopped. The green glow around her hands stopped as she let out a deep sigh. "He'll live. He just needs to rest for now." She said, smiling at the result. She looked at Sandayu's face and saw that it had more colour in it which was a relief.

Naruto sighed in relief. "Thank god."

However, Koyuki gave no reaction. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she appeared uncaring.

Akemi went to stand but then saw a hand in her vision. Looking up, she saw that Sasuke had extended his hand for her to take. Smiling, Akemi put her hand in Sasuke's and he pulled her up so she was standing.

"Thanks," Akemi said lowly so no one else could hear.

Sasuke nodded his head but he refused to meet her gaze which only made Akemi smile. He was still shy but it was a definite improvement than what he was like before Itachi came back to the village.

"At least I was able to save one," Akemi said with a sigh in her tone. She looked around and was welcomed to the sight of a massacre. Akemi could see Sakura and Kakashi checking for any survivors but there didn't seem to be any. Sasuke placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, something Akemi really appreciated. She reached up and gripped the hand on her shoulder, squeezing it before letting go.

"Come back here!" Naruto yelled.

Akemi turned her head and saw Naruto running after Koyuki. She had decided to walk away from him – something that Naruto didn't like. Just then, a blimp appeared from the mountainside and out of nowhere. Akemi's eyes widened when she saw it – it was Dotō's. Seeing it, Akemi instinctively ran forward and began running after Naruto and Koyuki. Just as she started running, she saw Mizore Fuyukuma open the blimp door and aimed his retractable cable arm at Koyuki. The cable arm shot out and reached Koyuki grabbing her by the waist. With a yank, Koyuki was pulled back into the blimp with a scream. With the target acquired, the blimp few off, sending bursts of snow at the Shinobi to create a smoke screen for their getaway.

Sasuke covered his face as did Kakashi and Sakura. They had come running when they saw the blimp but they had been too late and Koyuki was now gone.

"Dammit." Sasuke scowled darkly. The person they were meant to protect was now gone and had been taken by the enemy. He was about to run after the blimp, but a hand caught his shoulder.

"Don't act so hastily, we need to think of a plan," Kakashi said, holding onto his student with a tight grip.

Sasuke sneered but nodded his head, understanding what he said.

It was in that moment that Sakura looked around. "Hey, where are Naruto and Akemi?" She said with a confused expression.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he too began looking around. He couldn't feel their chakra either. That's when it clicked in his brain. Sasuke looked at where the blimp had been moments ago and noticed a Sai in the snow – Akemi's Sai. Both Naruto and Akemi had jumped a ride onto the blimp and where now in the clutches of Dotō. Sasuke felt his eye twitch violently as his chakra spiked in anger. Sasuke marched over to the lone Sai and pulled it out from the snow, a look of anger in his eyes.

"Those idiots." He muttered lowly. He was going to kill them the next time he saw them for being so reckless.

 **NARUTO**

 **Another chapter done! Remember to leave a review and tell me what you guys think!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow- part four

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **Hi all! I know that's it's been a while but I have finally got around to writing the next instalment. No, this is story hasn't been abandoned, I just lost interest for a while and now it has caught my interest again!**

 **To Marie Yoshina – thank you for the suggestion of writing something similar for KHR and it has given me the inspiration to start it! I have written a few chapters but I haven't published it yet because I wasn't to make the story interesting.**

 **Also, to SandNinjaBunny, thank you for the reviews! I have nearly forgotten how much I loved this story and your reviews made me want to continue!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **NARUTO**

Koyuki was sat in a plush chair, surrounded by expensive alcohol and crystal glasses – all had been crafted by the finest crystal makers in all the Nations. If she hadn't known any better, she would say she was being treated very well and it reminded her slightly of her childhood by being surrounded by such luxuries. However, Koyuki knew her uncle's games, he was going to try and coax her – try and pass over all the terrible things that he had done so he can get what he wanted. Koyuki had her eyes closed and acted as though she was uncaring, even though she was on edge the entire time. Being near Dotō had always unnerved her, even as a child.

"Koyuki, you've grown to be quite beautiful," Dotō commented with charming smile. "Tell me little Hime, do you have the Hex crystal with you?"

"Yes," Koyuki answered plainly.

Dotō nodded his head, "Good. It is the sole remaining link to the Kazahana Clan and the key to the treasure. "

Frowning, Koyuki looked up. "A key to what treasure?"

"When I…" Dotō began to speak but hesitated slightly, " _rescued_ this land from your father's hands, the Kazahana Clan's resources were all but gone. I knew Sousetsu must have hidden his riches somewhere. I have searched for a long time and now, I have finally found it. It is hidden deep within the Rainbow Glacier and there is a keyhole that can only be opened by the Hex Crystal."

Koyuki hid a grimace, but she made sure to school her facial expressions. She just needed to act like a camera was rolling and then she could keep her composure.

Dotō continued speaking, not noticing anything wrong with his niece, "Once I have possession over the Kazahana fortune, our country can attain military superiority over the Five Great Nations." He said in a smug tone, a large grin formed on his face.

"Not gonna happen!" Naruto shouted as he sprung from his hiding place. Naruto and Akemi were glaring at Dotō – Akemi more so. She was watching him carefully while trying to figure out where his henchmen were. She knew that they were nearby, but she didn't exactly know where.

Koyuki head shot up when she heard a familiar voice, she looked over and saw Naruto and Akemi standing by the door. Seeing them, she jumped up from her seat. "You two!" Koyuki yelled at them.

Dotō glared at them, "How on earth did you two get here?"

Naruto grinned, "Never underestimate a ninja."

Akemi also smirked, "We're quite resourceful." When Dotō had captured Koyuki, Naruto had flung a kunai attached to rope onto the blimp, securing him. Akemi had seen him do this and had grabbed onto his hand so he wasn't alone. Naruto had then used his Shadow Clones to form a bridge so he and Akemi could climb onto the blimp with ease. Akemi had been surprised that no one had spotted them then because there had been loads of Naruto Clones.

Koyuki stared at Naruto, a look of awe on her face.

Akemi's head perked up when she sensed some chakra signatures appear. Instantly, she jumped back just in time for wires to shoot out and wrap themselves around Naruto. The wires tangled themselves around him, completely immobilising him. Naruto yelled out in protest and tried to fight against the wires, but it was no use. Mizore jumped down and smacked Naruto on the head with his gauntlet, knocking him to the ground. It was only when he was on the ground that the wires disappeared. The lift behind them opened, revealing Naruto's many Shadow Clones, all tied up and trapped, with Fubuki standing there looking smug. Akemi was about to jump to help Naruto, but she stopped when she felt something cold press against her throat and her arms were pulled behind her forcefully.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Akihiko's voice whispered into her ear.

Akemi grit her teeth but didn't say a word.

Nadare appeared and kneeled before Dotō, "I apologise, as you can see these runts were a bit of a handful." He said, glaring over to Akemi and Naruto.

"Well, it appears that he knows the multiple Shadow Clone jutsu." Dotō marvelled for a moment, looking almost impressed. He was looking at Naruto's clones and he couldn't see a fault with them, they were a perfect replica.

Mizore grumbled lowly, "I'll tell ya, I don't know who this brat is, but his chakra is nothing to be sniffed at."

An idea popped into Nadare's head. "What do you think? Should we try out that contraption on him?" He asked, looking to Dotō for further instruction.

Dotō made a thoughtful expression. "He would make for an interesting test subject."

Akemi glared at him and watched as Nadare walked over to a compartment and took out a device. It was a Chakra Negator, made to completely bloke a ninja's chakra and make them unable to use it and if they did, they would experience a nasty shock.

Mizore got close to Naruto and picked him up by the scruff of his jacket.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Akemi yelled out, wriggling in the arms of her captor. She wanted to get free so she could help Naruto but Akihiko's grip on her arms was too strong. He was also using his legs to trap her own so she couldn't get free.

Dotō spared a glance at her, "We only have one device at the moment. I wonder which one will be our test subject." He said as an evil grin spreads across his face.

Akemi glared at him venomously and if only looks could have killed because Dotō would have murdered ten times over. She knew that Naruto was one of the only people the Chakra Negator would break on – after all, Naruto had the Ninetails chakra to support him. However, if she were to have it on then she didn't know if she wouldn't be able to get it off. Also, it helped give Koyuki hope and believe in Naruto in the anime.

However, Akemi didn't have to wait long before a decision was made. Nadare had already made it to Naruto and separated the device and shoved it onto Naruto's chest. Immediately, electrical currents surrounded Naruto, completely shocking him. Naruto cried out in pain and only stopped when he was knocked unconscious due to the shocks. Due to the device, all of Naruto's Shadow Clones instantly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Koyuki looked at Naruto with concern. "What is that thing?"

Dotō grinned, "We're just cleansing him of his chakra. This device will absorb any that is in his body and bind it in a powerful barrier. Once it is activated it can never be broken or destroyed, no matter what."

Akemi bit back a retort, she didn't need him knowing the truth just yet.

Koyuki watched on hopelessly.

"Take them away," Dotō commanded, turning his back on them.

Akemi hissed as Naruto was picked up like a bag of potatoes. Mizore threw Naruto over his shoulder and made his way to the lift. It was in that moment that Akemi sprang free as she had managed to get her arms loose and she turned around and punched Akihiko in the face with all her strength. She heard the bone crack under the force of her punch and she rushed into action. She grabbed a kunai and slung it at Dotō, with it just managing to cut his face slightly as he turned his head to face them, but it was enough for Akemi to the see the spark of anger in Dotō's eyes.

Nadare appeared in front of her and punched in her the gut, making her choke as some blood was spat out her mouth – seriously winding her.

Akemi was attacked again, this time by Akihiko. He punched her in the back of her head, knocking her unconscious immediately. Akemi fell to the ground, looking limp as some blood poured from the wound on her head

"Lock them away." Dotō hissed angrily as he glared at Akemi for daring to attack him.

Koyuki watched in awe as Naruto and Akemi were taken away. She couldn't believe what she had witnessed – no one had ever had the guts to do what they did and Akemi had managed to cut Dotō's face. No one had managed to even get close to him before.

Dotō looked down at Koyuki. "Now, I'll take the Hex Crystal if you don't mind." He asked with his outstretched hand.

Koyuki turned around wordlessly and opened her coat slightly. She reached around her neck and pulled out the Hexagon Crystal from around her neck and handed to Dotō, placing it on his open hand.

Immediately, Dotō's eyes locked onto the Hex Crystal and stared at it greedily. He eagerly took it in his hands and inspected it with greedy eyes. However, within seconds he frowned as he spotted something wrong with the crystal.

"What is this?" Dotō asked in disgust.

Koyuki said nothing, just stared at the floor blankly.

Dotō reached out and grabbed Koyuki by the collar of her coat and roughly shook her. "This isn't a game! You think I don't know this is a fake?!" He yelled at her, his wide eyes becoming wild with rage.

Koyuki looked at the crystal with disbelief. "No! That's impossible!" She tried to think back to when it could have possibly been switched. She had been wearing the necklace the entire time – she hardly ever took it off. Except when…

"Kakashi Hatake," Koyuki whispered lowly as she remembered waking up to seeing him in her room. He had been holding the crystal, inspecting it.

Dotō frowned, "What?"

Nadare sighed, "Makes sense. Kakashi is a sly one, I wouldn't put it past him to pull a bait and switch."

Fubuki smirked and placed her hands on her hips, "Don't even worry about it, we'll have him rounded up in no time."

"That won't be necessary," Dotō said with a smirk as he pushed Koyuki away from him.

Akihiko frowned, staring at Dotō with a confused expression. He thought that Dotō would have wanted Kakashi brought to him immediately, as he had been searching for the Hexogen Crystal for some time now.

Dotō continued with a smug expression, "The man will show up on his own soon anyway. We have two of his teammates and the person he was escorting. It is only a matter of time." He said as he clenched the fake Hex crystal in his hand until it completely shattered.

 **NARUTO**

When Akemi came too, the first thing she noticed was how uncomfortable her wrists and ankles were. Her stomach was also hurting from where Nadare had punched her and so was the back of her head. Akemi was pretty sure that she had a concussion – she was feeling nausea and there was a pressure in the back of her head that was killing her. Akemi groaned as she opened her eyes and winced slightly. Slowly, she looked around and saw she was in a cell and she was hanging by her wrists in cuffs that were attached to the ceiling. Looking down, Akemi noticed that her ankles were also cuffed too. Seeing them, she instantly remembered the events from moments ago and her eyes widened. Akemi brought up her shoulders up and neck together, trying to feel if the Hex Crystal was still around her neck and she sighed in relief when she still felt it there. She knew that Dotō would instantly know that Koyuki didn't have the real one and Koyuki would think Kakashi had switched the two. Kakashi knew that Akemi had switched the real one. He had then switched a fake for a fake to cover her tracks. After she had told him, he had trusted her with the necklace because Akemi was someone they wouldn't expect – but they would suspect Kakashi, just like in the anime. Nadare had been certain it was Kakashi and would agree far too easily with Koyuki.

Akemi was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the jangle of chains in the cell next her, "Naruto-kun?" Akemi called out. She couldn't see anything near her or in the cell in front of her, so she was hoping Naruto was somewhere nearby.

"Akemi-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, his voice carrying over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, what about you?" Akemi answered back, wincing at the volume. Her head was really killing her, she needed to heal herself before it got worse.

There were more noises of chains jangling. "I'm fine! Just a little stuck at the moment. I really should have practised more with the escape jutsu." Naruto said with a sigh in his tone. Soon, Naruto screamed as the sound of electricity echoed in the cell.

"Stop using your chakra, Naruto-kun! You'll just injure yourself more." Akemi immediately said, not wanting him to get hurt more than he was.

"I can't help it!" Naruto whined back in protest. It was his body's usual response to danger – to use his chakra to get out of the situation but now he couldn't.

Akemi sighed and shook her head, making her groan in pain.

"They didn't put one of you too, Akemi-chan?" Naruto asked on his side of the cell.

"No, they only had one," Akemi said, vaguely remembering the conversation between Dotō and his henchmen. Looking up, Akemi looked at the cuffs on her hands and began wondering how to get out of them. Just as she was about to move, she heard three sets of footsteps getting closer. Akemi dropped her head and closed her eyes, acting as though she was unconscious. Any movement from Naruto's cell had also stopped, as he too was acting as though he was unconscious.

As the three pairs of footsteps pass near her cell, Akemi opened her eye a crack and saw two guards putting Koyuki in a cell. Once they had secured her, the guards left. Only when they far away did Akemi open her eyes fully.

Koyuki was sitting down in her cell – with no cuffs in sight. She was crouched on the floor with her knees close to her chest. Koyuki looked over with dead eyes and saw that both Akemi and Naruto were staring at her.

"Serves you right," Koyuki said.

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah, you too."

Koyuki sighed and looked down, "I know."

There was silence for a moment as Akemi watched the two interact. She wanted to get out of the cuffs and soon, but she needed to Koyuki to be inspired by Naruto. The pressure in her head was bad but she could wait a few moments.

"You said there is not spring. What do you mean?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Koyuki looked up for a moment. " _You'll see when the spring comes, Koyuki_. That's what my father used to say. But this land has no spring. My father died, I fled from the Land of Snow and I stopped believing. I was always running and I was always lying to people. But I was mostly lying to myself, my life has been one big charade. Becoming an actress was about the only thing I was cut out for in this world."

Akemi watched Koyuki with a critical eye. She knew that Koyuki meant every word of what she was saying. Koyuki was an amazing actress, but she could be an amazing leader – but only if she stepped up to the mark. The Land of Snow needed someone like Koyuki – like her father for it to prosper again. Dotō was greedy and had used up all that was left of the Country's money and now he was after more to gain more military prowess. What Dotō failed to understand was that the Five Great Nations would kick his ass if he tried to take over.

Naruto began moving, making a real effort to get out of the chains. Akemi could hear a lot of movement and instantly knew that Naruto had taken the filing stick from his shoe and was now working on his restraints.

"That's not going to change anything, you know," Koyuki said bluntly.

Akemi could hear Naruto struggle and she heard the filing stick fall to the ground, out of Naruto's reach.

"Told you so. All you can do is give up." Koyuki said.

Naruto sighed, "I bet it's a lot easier to give up, once you've given up. No one ever cared about me before and I just tried to blow it off, ya know. But it was still pretty rough. I used to think there was no place in this world for me. But…" Naruto tried to use his chakra again and was shocked harshly, making him cry out in pain.

Koyuki instantly looked over slightly alarmed.

Akemi said nothing, keeping a straight face. She knew she would need to heal Naruto after this, electricity burns weren't a nice thing to deal with.

"But I… still found friends," Naruto said, determination in his voice. "I kept at it and didn't give up and good things happened," Naruto exclaimed in pain as more electricity flowed through his body.

Koyuki's eyes widened as she watched him.

"When you give up, your dreams and everything else, they are gone!" Naruto yelled out as he pulled against the restraints, getting shocked even more.

"Stop!" Koyuki begged.

"Let him do this," Akemi said, butting into the conversation.

Koyuki turned to look at her, "But he's in pain!"

"The more you tell him to stop, the more he is going to continue," Akemi replied back seriously. She wanted this over as quickly as possible so she could help him. If this pep talk wasn't necessary then she wouldn't have completely broken out already. Her chakra was fine, it was her head that was the issue.

Koyuki frowned as she turned back to look at Naruto, concern written on her face.

Naruto grit his teeth as he struggled against the cuffs even more. "I'm going to show you. Your father, Sandayu… that they weren't that wrong!" Naruto screamed out as he pulled against the cuffs, feeling some movement.

"Naruto…" Koyuki whispered in awe.

Naruto gave one last cry before the sound of cuffs breaking sounded loudly. Akemi looked around and waited for any guards to appear, but none did. The sound of Naruto hitting the ground echoed and so was Naruto's heavy breathing.

"Naruto-kun, stay on the ground," Akemi said.

Naruto groaned, "But why?"

"The bars are filled with electricity, touch them and you'll be knocked out," Akemi warned him. She didn't want him unconscious – this part she knew she could intervene.

Koyuki frowned, "But we're still trapped."

Akemi smirked as she channelled her chakra into her hands and wrists. She pulled herself up and began moving her wrists apart. Akemi couldn't feel the resistance of the metal biting into her wrist but she ignored that and continued to pull. Within seconds, the cuffs snapped off and landed on the ground. Akemi landed on the ground with ease and then she did the same with the cuffs around her feet.

"W-why didn't you do that earlier?!" Koyuki yelled out.

Akemi looked at the Princess and smirked, "It wasn't necessary."

Koyuki's eye twitched in irritation. "Well, you've still got the bars stopping you!"

Akemi rolled her eyes, but first, she placed a hand on her head. She began healing her head, feeling the cooling green chakra sooth the pressure in the back of her head until it was completely gone. She couldn't have a concussion on this mission – not when things were about to go down. Akemi sighed in relief now that she was feeling much better. Walking over to the door, Akemi reached into her hair and took out a hairpin. She bent the pin and carefully, she reached her arm through the door and began trying to pick the lock. Akemi was completely focused on the task that she didn't hear Koyuki try and talk to her because Akemi knew she needed to concentrate. It felt like a high pressured game of Operation – but if she lost then she would get electrocuted. Akemi sighed in irritation when it didn't work the first or second time, but on the third try, she heard the click and she smiled when the door swung open.

Koyuki stared at her in awe, "B-but, how?!"

Akemi grinned at her, "I'm a ninja." Without another word, Akemi headed over to Naruto's cell door and began trying to work on his door too. Naruto was laying on the ground and she could see smoke coming from him, indicating how bad the shocks were.

"You still with me, Naruto-kun?" Akemi asked as she worked on the lock.

Naruto groaned but nodded his head.

"Don't worry, I'll start healing you as soon as I get this opened," Akemi said, focusing on the job at hand.

Just then, there was a sound of footsteps that made Akemi look up. She couldn't risk getting caught and having them alert Dotō and his minions. Making the decision, she stopped and jumped up, clinging onto the wall using her chakra. She was hanging onto the wall with both hands and the tips of her feet touching the wall. She looked over at Koyuki and saw her with wide eyes and her jaw ajar. Akemi placed a finger over her lips, indicating for Koyuki to stay quiet. Moments later, two guards arrived on the scene. They seemed surprised to Naruto out of his cuffs and took out the key. Seeing this opportunity, Akemi jumped off the wall and landed on one of the guards – the one that had the keys in his hand, knocking him unconscious with the force alone. The other guard let out a noise of shock as he saw his comrade go down. Whirling around, Akemi attacked the other guards, her fist making contact with his face and sending him flying off the edge. Akemi turned to the unconscious guard and swiped the keys from his hand.

Akemi opened Naruto's cell with the keys and kneeled down beside him. "How are you fairing, Naruto-kun?" She asked, instantly healing him. Naruto couldn't use his chakra, but he seemed to be accepting her chakra fine without there being any electric shocks. As long as he didn't use his chakra he was fine.

Naruto groaned and raised his head. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"

"Trust me when I say it was needed for her," Akemi whispered lowly into his ear so Koyuki couldn't hear.

Naruto sighed but understood the reason.

After a few moments of healing, Naruto and Akemi heard the sound of an explosion going off. Akemi and Naruto looked up at the sound, immediately stopping her healing.

"What was that?" Koyuki asked, looking uneasy

Naruto grinned, "Reinforcement." He knew that Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura had arrived to assist them and they couldn't have chosen a better time.

Akemi helped Naruto up before they headed over to Koyuki's cell. Akemi them used the key to open the cell door, "You coming, your highness?" Akemi asked with a sarcastic grin.

Koyuki narrowed her eyes but walked out of the cell nonetheless.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, taking Koyuki's hand and running off with Akemi right behind them.

They ran over to the lift and began heading upwards. Akemi reached for her Sais but only found one in her pouch and she was feeling disappointed. Akemi checked her pouch and other pockets but came up with nothing. Mentally, Akemi was cursing herself for losing one of her Sais. She really liked those Sais. Instead, Akemi settled with her single Sai and had to deal with it.

As soon as they came to the top, they rushed and headed for the exit. However, before they could get any further, a wire appeared near them and a guard jumped up. Naruto let go of Koyuki's hand before he immediately began attacking the guard but he didn't seem to be fighting back.

"Wait! Naruto, it's me." Kakashi said, taking off his disguise. He had disguised himself as one of Dotō's guards so he could sneak in without detection – with Sasuke and Sakura using the explosives as a diversion so no one would see him slip in.

Akemi and Naruto sighed in relief. "Thank goodness Sensei," Akemi said, feeling relieved that he was nearby.

Kakashi smiled from under the mask as he threw Naruto his weapon pouch. "Sorry to keep you waiting. You look alright, Hime." Kakashi said, giving Koyuki a once over and he didn't see any injuries. He then did the same for Naruto and Akemi and was thankful when he didn't see any wounds on them.

"Yeah," Koyuki glared at them, "You switched my Hex Crystal for a fake without telling me, didn't you?"

"Actually, I did," Akemi said, owning up to it.

Koyuki looked at her, "How did you manage that?"

"When you nearly ran over those children with the horse back in Konoha. I knocked you unconscious and took your necklace." Akemi answered back honestly.

Koyuki glared at her.

"What? It was pretty." Akemi with a shrug of her shoulders. Akemi reached around her neck and took off the necklace and gave it back to Koyuki. Akemi still felt nervous about whether or not Naruto did the trick to inspire her, but this was going to a leap of faith for her. At least Akemi was assured that the Hex Crystal wasn't a key for any weapons.

Koyuki looked down at the necklace, "All for this thing." She muttered lowly.

Just then, three guards were knocked past the entrance of where they were all standing – the guards looked to be unconscious. Turning their heads, Akemi saw Sasuke and Sakura run through.

"This place is crawling with guards," Sakura said with a sigh.

"Sakura! Sasuke!" Naruto said, looking excited.

"I see you haven't been beaten yet," Akemi said, looking at Sasuke as she said this.

Sasuke looked at her and glared.

"This way!" Koyuki said, leading them out the prison part of the castle.

They all ran after her, following Koyuki's lead. Kakashi and Naruto were upfront, Akemi and Sasuke were behind them and Sakura was bringing up the rear. As they ran, Sasuke reached into his pouch and pulled out Akemi's other Sai.

"You found it!" Akemi exclaimed with a grin.

"Don't be careless in the future." Sasuke scolded her as they ran.

Akemi rolled her eyes but she couldn't fight off the grin from her face. Sasuke really did care about her otherwise he would have left her Sai in the snow – where she had left it. Akemi could feel Sakura glaring at her from behind but Akemi ignored it.

Within minutes, Koyuki had led them down dark hallways and they stopped at the throne room. The whole room was dark and dreary. Koyuki stopped when she was in the middle of the room, near the large stairs that left to the throne.

"Why have we stopped?" Sakura asked, looking confused.

Akemi pushed her lips together.

Suddenly, a spotlight came on above the throne, revealing Dotō. He chuckled as he stood up from his seat, revealing his impressive size.

"Dotō," Kakashi whispered.

Dotō grinned as he looked down at his niece, "Well done, Koyuki."

Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all tensed. They all turned to look at Koyuki who was looking forward with a blank expression. Akemi watched with a passive look, her hands on her Sais, getting ready for a fight that would happen soon. Koyuki ran to the stairs and the throne. Kakashi and Naruto tried to stop her, but Nadare, Mizore, Fubuki and Akihiko got in the way, blocking their path.

"It can't be," Kakashi said in shock as he watched Koyuki run to her uncle.

Sasuke turned to look at Akemi, but she didn't look at them. Akemi was watching Dotō and Koyuki with a close eye.

Once she was near him, Koyuki handed Dotō the real Hex Crystal into his outstretched hand. Koyuki then turned back to them, "This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you. After all, I am an actress, aren't I?" She said with a smug tone.

Dotō grinned. "There you have it. Another brilliant performance from the great Yukie Fujikaze."

Naruto glared at Koyuki, betrayal in his eyes.

Koyuki saw this and looked down at her hands, she was holding Sandayu's sword and her eye drops attached to it. "Yes, it was all an act!" She yelled as she unsheathed the sword and plunged it into Dotō's chest.

Dotō stepped back in shock, not expecting for Koyuki to stab him.

Sakura gasped, not expecting this.

"I told you didn't me. I'm an actress!" Koyuki yelled as she plunged the sword deeper into his chest with force.

Dotō looked down at Koyuki with a furious expression. "You wretched…!" He then grabbed her by the throat and began strangling her.

"Hime!" Naruto shouted out in worry.

"I… always knew… that if… I ever returned to this country… I was going to die here…" Koyuki struggled to speak as Dotō's hands were closing in on her vocal cords. She was finding it extremely hard to breathe.

"Don't you dare stop fighting?" Naruto yelled out.

Koyuki was gasping for air, "Naruto… its only thanks to you and Akemi… that I couldn't stop running away."

Akemi looked at Koyuki with a bewildered expression, she wasn't expecting to be included in that statement. She actually thought that Koyuki didn't like her much.

"No! Don't throw away your life like this!" Naruto yelled out. He attempted to get past Dotō's henchmen, but they wouldn't let him through.

"I'm sorry Otou-san… Sandayu…" Koyuki whispered as she managed to push Dotō and herself off the edge of the large platform. They landed on the ground with a loud thud that sounded very painful.

"Koyuki!" Naruto yelled as he ran over. This time, Dotō's henchmen completely ignoring him now as they too were watching what was happening.

"Don't, Naruto-kun!" Akemi yelled, but it was too late.

Naruto was too close so he couldn't avoid the punch that Dotō gave him to the face. Naruto landed on the ground.

Dotō began to laugh. "You really thought you could kill me, could you? With this little toy." He said as he began to untie his kimono.

If Akemi hadn't known what was underneath, she would have looked away due to embarrassment. She watched as Dotō took off his kimono to reveal his own battle armour – this time it was mostly black with blue accents. The crystal circle in the middle of the amour was covered by a yin-yang symbol. As he disrobed, the knife fell out and Akemi tried to see if the knife had made any marks but Akemi found none.

Dotō looked very smug, "That's right, its chakra armour our latest prototype."

Koyuki groaned from her position on the floor as she began to cough. She rolled over onto her front, but Dotō had already got too close to her and managed to scoop her up in his arm, carrying her under his arm.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Naruto yelled out as he charged at Dotō once more. However, he didn't get close. Dotō swatted Naruto away and sent Naruto crashing into the ground.

"Naruto!" Koyuki yelled out. She began hitting Dotō, trying to get him to let her go, but it was of no use.

Dotō scoffed, "You're wasting your time. Your chakra has been absorbed."

Akemi ran over to Naruto checked him over, he had a bruise forming on his face, but he was otherwise fine. Akemi looked at the device on his chest and glared at it, if Naruto didn't have that device on then it wouldn't have been a different story.

Dotō looked down to his niece, "Come, Koyuki. Beyond the rainbow." He said before a wire appeared behind him and pulled him up, out of the crumbling castle.

"We need to get out now!" Akemi yelled out, helping Naruto up before escaping the castle.

Everyone jumped out of the way of the debris, making their way to safety.

 **NARUTO**

Akemi was with Naruto and they were chasing after Dotō and Koyuki. Dotō had wings on his battle armour that closely resembled bat wings. He was easy to spot so Naruto and Akemi didn't have a hard time finding them, it was just catching up to them as the snow made it difficult to run through. They stopped running when a figure appeared in front of them. Akihiko stood with a grin on his face, poised for a fight.

"Get out of the way!" Naruto yelled at him.

Akihiko smirked, "Not going to happen."

Naruto growled lowly and was about to step forward when Akemi placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll keep him occupied. You go on ahead." Akemi said, staring at Akihiko with a look of determination. They would finish their fight properly this time.

Naruto nodded his head and ran past Akihiko – and this time he didn't try and stop the Uzumaki, instead, he was staring at Akemi.

Akihiko grinned, "Are you going to keep your promise?"

Akemi wiggled her eyebrow, "You'll have to wait and see now." She said before charging at him at lightning speed.

Both Akihiko and Akemi met in the middle, both attempting to attack each other using Taijutsu. Their legs met before they jumped away from one another. Akemi sprang for another attack, this time aiming for his back. She appeared behind him in mid-air and attempted to drop kick his back, however, Akihiko turned around in time and grabbed her foot. Akihiko swung her around and let go, sending her flying. Quickly, Akemi corrected her body so that she landed on her feet and not on her head.

Now that she was safe distance, she took this opportunity to analyse the situation. Akemi knew that she couldn't use any type of Jutsu as they would be absorbed by the armour. If she wanted to use chakra though, she would need enough to completely overwhelm Akihiko and Akemi knew that wouldn't be happening – she didn't want to leave herself completely weak for the fight with Dotō. Akemi's eyes landed on the gem that was sat on his left collar bone if she destroyed that then its abilities were void.

With a target and some plan in mind, Akemi jumped into the action and began attacking again. She attempted to attack from the left but Akihiko met her attack with ease. She jumped away and attempted to attack from the right instead but was met with the same result. Jumping back a bit, Akemi made the hand signs. " **Shadow Clone Jutsu**."

Three clones of Akemi appeared and they all attacked at the same time. Akihiko's eyes narrowed as he spun around and defended himself against each other, swatting them away. Akihiko managed to make one clone disappear in a cloud of smoke, not noticing that the clone had left an explosive tag. Akihiko's eyes widened when he saw the tag, but he was too late and the explosion sounded loudly through the night.

Akemi covered her eyes from the explosion when she opened them, she couldn't see anyone. Even her other two Shadow Clones were gone as they were caught up in that explosion – a price she was willing to pay. Akemi frowned but then her eyes widened and she jumped out of the way – just in time as Akihiko was now standing where she stood moments ago.

Akihiko grinned wildly at her. His arm was burnt – it looked like a third-degree burn on his right arm and it was bleeding profusely. "Well, you're certainly not boring." He said laughing and it sounding like a cackle. He didn't seem to be in any pain at all.

"I am anything but boring," Akemi answered back confidently.

This time, Akihiko charged at her and Akemi made a motion that she was going to attack from the right with a kunai in her right hand. Seeing this, Akihiko protected his right side, but then Akemi changed tactics at the last second and corrected herself and aimed for his left side that had been left wide open. Akemi channelled all her strength into the gem of his armour, wanting to destroy it. Akihiko's eyes widened as he couldn't defend himself from this attack. Akemi's fist made contact with the gem and it began to crack. Akemi used the kunai that was in her right hand and stabbed it into the gem as hard as she could.

Akemi jumped back as quickly as she could and away from the explosion that sounded from Akihiko's armour being damaged. Akihiko screamed in pain as he was caught in the inferno – his armour no longer protecting him as it had malfunctioned.

Akemi made the hand signs, " **Katon: Karyūdan**." Akemi breathed fire straight at Akihiko, making the fire grow even stronger and Akihiko screaming louder. Now that the armour had malfunctioned, Akemi could use Jutsu again.

Akihiko stumbled away, trying to get away from her. However, he stumbled too far and wasn't looking where he was going, and Akihiko ended up falling off a cliff.

Sighing that it was over, Akemi winced. She looked down at her hand and saw that she had broken her hand and there were glass shards in her hand. Carefully, Akemi picked out all the glass and then healed her hand with ease.

Looking up, Akemi looked at the glaciers were she knew Dotō, Koyuki and Naruto were.

 **NARUTO**

Once Akemi was done with her fight with Akihiko, she made her way over to where Naruto was. As she arrived, she saw Naruto plunge into the icy water. Her eyes widened as she felt her heart beat ten to a dozen – in her world, if this had happened then it usually would have meant certain death, but this world was different.

Taking a kunai out, Akemi threw it at Dotō. The kunai did nothing as it didn't reach him, but it did catch his attention.

"You." Dotō hissed out as he glared at Akemi.

Akemi grinned, "Miss me?"

Dotō was about to say something but the sound of birds chirping distracted both of them. Akemi watched as Sasuke appeared on the scene with his Chidori activated. Sasuke sprang forward and attacked Dotō. However, a force field around Dotō made it impossible for Sasuke's attack to make contact. However, Sasuke pushed the attack forward, his Chidori pushing against Dotō defence until the yin-yang symbol cracked.

"You think your pesky jutsu will work on me?!" Dotō yelled as he hit Sasuke in the face, sending him flying into a nearby boulder.

Sasuke crashed into his hard, the boulder breaking and cracking on impact. "The rest is up to Naruto…" Sasuke whispered as he fell to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth.

Akemi watched this and felt a rage bubbling inside her as she saw what happened to Sasuke. With a snarl, Akemi lunged for Dotō and began attacking him with kunai in hand. Dotō grinned as he parred her attacks, meeting them with ease. He attempted to punch Akemi in the face, much like he had done with both Naruto and Sasuke, but Akemi caught his hand and held in place. Dotō looked at Akemi in shock. Twisting her body around Dotō's arm, Akemi managed to get him to the ground, Dotō landing on the snow with such force that a crack appeared in the ground. In her adrenaline rush, punched at Dotō shoulder blade and smile when she heard a satisfying crack, which was only made more satisfying when Dotō screamed out in pain – Akemi had managed to dislocate his right shoulder.

In a rage, Dotō picked Akemi up and threw her across the snow and away from him. Akemi corrected herself so she landed on her feet and glared at Dotō. Akemi was about to make her next move when she felt the ground beneath her feet began to quake.

Looking over to the water, Akemi saw that it had turned a weird shade of orange. Akemi's eyes widened when she saw hundreds of Shadow Clones jump out from the water as they all attacked Dotō. Akemi's eyes searched for the real Naruto and soon found him and saw there was no device on his chest anymore – he had managed to get it off him.

Seeing that Dotō was being dealt with, Akemi ran over to Sasuke to check up on him. She kneeled down beside him and did a diagnostics jutsu and sighed when there was no major damage – it was just fatigue. To ensure his head didn't suffer any more damage, Akemi moved up so she could place Sasuke's head on her lap. Akemi then placed her hand on Sasuke's face and began healing the bruise that was forming on his face due to Dotō's punch.

"We can't have you losing fangirls if you have disfigured face, can we?" Akemi said with a grin, looking down at Sasuke.

Sasuke groaned with his eyes closed. "If it means they leave me alone, I am fine with it." He had woke up the moment Akemi had placed his head on her lap, but he hadn't said anything to stop it because it was more comfortable than the cold ground.

Akemi laughed and shook her head.

It didn't take long before Akemi had finished and now Sasuke was in perfect nick. Akemi looked back at the fight going on between Naruto and Dotō and saw Dotō being sent flying into one of the glaciers as Naruto used his Rainbow Rasengan.

There was an instant change. The snow around them all melted to reveal the luscious green grass and flowers that the snow had been hiding. Akemi also didn't feel as cold anymore, in fact, she felt quite happy with the temperature. She looked around and saw there was now a rainbow – it had now transformed into the Land of Spring.

"It's so beautiful…" Akemi whispered in awe. They didn't get this view in Konoha so she was appreciating it while it lasted.

Sasuke hummed in agreement from his spot in her lap. He looked up at Akemi and saw her look of awe. Slowly, his eyes softened and he felt his heart beat in his chest – she looked so innocent and childish like that. A small smile appeared in his face as he looked back up at the sky and at the rainbow. Akemi had been right when she said it was beautiful.

Akemi sighed lowly, "It's over."

"Now we can go home," Sasuke said in agreement. He missed Konoha – not that he would admit that to anyone.

Akemi looked down, a knowing smirk on her face.

 **NARUTO**

A few days had passed since then and now Koyuki was officially coronated at the Queen of the Land of Snow (spring). The people had been ecstatic about it now that Dotō had been overthrown and now the true ruler was in her rightful place. Akemi, Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura watched from the crowd as Koyuki gave her speech and was welcomed with open arms. Behind Koyuki was Sandayu – who was looking extremely proud of Koyuki – as everyone else was. It was only later on that Koyuki managed to make her way over to the Konoha Ninja after being so preoccupied. Sandayu was with her, the proud gleam in his eyes still not wavering. With Koyuki now the Queen, Sandayu had been made her Advisor and he was taking his role very seriously.

"So, how's the generator holding up?" Akemi asked with a smile. Without that generator, there would be no Land of Spring because it was the only thing keep the cold and harsh weather away. To say Akemi was grateful for the warm weather was an understatement.

Sakura nodded her head, "Does it have enough power to last?"

Koyuki returned the smile. "It's not fully complete, but we can use all the research that was done and complete it and make the country the Land of Spring." She said with a content expression. She had despised the snow because of the bad memories attached to the weather. But now, it was a fresh start for her and spring was the perfect weather for this country.

Sakura sighed, "It's too bad you're going to be retiring from acting."

Koyuki smirked coyly, "Who says that I am giving up? I mean I would be stupid to give up now." She said, holding a script in her hand.

Akemi looked at the script and her eyes widened when she saw what it was. It was one of Kakashi's perverted books that Jiraiya wrote. Kakashi had also noticed as he choked on his own saliva and his only visible eyes were wide.

"That script…" Kakashi whispered in awe.

"I think I can handle both," Koyuki said with a confident grin as she struts away with Sandayu following behind her. As she walked away, Koyuki was surrounded by children who all wanted her autograph. This time, she was more than happy to give autographs and she seemed to be glowing with happiness.

Kakashi couldn't stop staring at her, "She's perfect for it." He muttered lowly.

Akemi looked at him, "Because that is not slightly creepy." She muttered lowly under her breathe. Kakashi had helped Koyuki when she was a child and now as an adult too.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and brushed off her comment.

Naruto's eyes widened. "I am such an idiot! I could have got her autograph!" Naruto exclaimed with a pout. He had been dying for one and now he has missed his opportunity.

Sasuke sighed, "I got it covered."

Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi all gave him a bewildered look, "Huh?" Sakura exclaimed in shock. She never would have expected her Sasuke-kun to do something like that for Naruto.

Akemi arched a brow, a grin appeared on her face.

Sasuke pulled out an envelope and handed it to Naruto. Naruto eagerly took it and opened it. Sakura and Kakashi were crowded around him, also wanting to see what in it. Naruto took out a single picture. It was taken after the fight with Dotō and he was heavily bandaged and asleep, with snot and saliva running down his face. In the picture, Koyuki was kissing his cheek and it was a signed picture.

"You couldn't have chosen a better picture?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke smirked and turned his head away.

Akemi laughed and leaned over Naruto's shoulder. " _To Naruto, you're the most awesome ninja I know. Thank you, Yuki Fujikaze_." Akemi said what was written on the photograph. Akemi smiled at the message, she thought that it was really sweet and she really liked the picture – even if Naruto didn't.

"Haku's going to love that picture," Akemi said with a grin.

Naruto grimaced – he knew that Haku was going to want this photo framed and Naruto didn't know how to feel about it.

"Also, she asked me to pass this on," Kakashi said as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out the fake Hex Crystal – the one that was switched for the real one. "She said that if you liked it so much then you could have the other one." He said handing it over to Akemi.

Akemi's eyes widened as she stared at the crystal. It was so pretty – it's what attracted it to her in the first place, "Thank you!" Akemi exclaimed as she took the necklace and placed it around her neck. She wasn't a big fan of jewellery but she could deal with this because of how pretty it was.

Kakashi grinned before setting off to speak with Koyuki once more before they left to go back home.

"So, what's the first thing you're going to do when we get back to Konoha?" Akemi asked, looking to her team. They had been away a while now – approaching two weeks and it would take another three days to get home by the sea.

Sakura sighed and relaxed, "I am going to take a nice hot bath."

Akemi nodded her head, for once agreeing with the pink haired teammate.

Naruto suddenly grinned mischievously. "I think you're all forgetting the bet we made before setting out." He said, looking at his teammates with an evil look.

Sasuke, Akemi and Sakura all froze where they were standing – they had hoped that Naruto would have forgotten about that bet. He was referring to bet they made about the losers listening to the winner for a week.

Sakura gulped, "H-have you got anything in mind?" She asked nervously. She didn't want to do anything ridiculous – like having to go on a date with him.

Naruto grinned and raised his hand in the air, his finger pointed to the sky. "For the next week, you will all be paying for my ramen…"

Akemi and Sasuke shared a relieved look.

"…while also wearing matching clothes like mine!" Naruto finished with a grin, pointing to his orange and blue jacket with matching pants.

Akemi's eyes widened. She looked at Naruto's outfit and she nearly threw up in her mouth. She absolutely hated Naruto's outfit as orange was not her favourite colour in the slightest. Sasuke looked as equally horrified at the protested of wearing Naruto's outfit.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled out in outrage.

Akemi leaned against Sasuke's shoulder, the shock making her weak. "Kill me now…" Akemi whispered.

"If I have to suffer, you're suffering with me." Sasuke muttered back to her.

Akemi glared at him in return.

 **NARUTO**

 **Thank you to Fairygirl960 for the suggestion for Naruto's 'evil' idea! I thought that it would be funny so hopefully I have done that suggestion justice.**

 **Leave a review and tell me what you guys think!**


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel – Part One

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **This movie is going to be happening around the Chapter 21 of the Retelling of Naruto so Orochimaru has tried to get Akemi but failed. Again, if you haven't read my Prequel, then go read it now! It's not integral to this story but it will make more sense if you did. At this point, Akemi and everyone is around 13 years old again. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone going backwards!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **NARUTO**

It had been some time since the Land of Snow adventure and things had gone back to normal for Akemi – mostly. Konoha had received news from the Land of Snow – which was now re-named the Land of Spring as Koyuki and her research team had managed to complete the generator and now it was fully functioning. The relations between Konoha and the Land of Spring had improved tremendously under Koyuki and Sandayu's lead and things seemed to be going really well. However, Akemi had been struggling a little bit since Orochimaru had tried to use her as a breeding machine but she was coming back around. She had noticed that Naruto and Haku were a bit more protective of her than before and had been taking turns staying with her at night because there were times she would have nightmares. Akemi would dream about what would happen if she had actually gone with Orochimaru and how different her life would have been.

Groggily, Akemi opened her eyes and noticed that her vision was completely blinded by a head of blonde hair. Blinking a few times to get the sleep out of her eyes, Akemi's vision cleared up and she noticed that Naruto was sleeping beside her, a content expression on his face. Naruto was sleeping in the same bed as her and was facing her. Akemi was surprised that Naruto hadn't kicked the duvet off him as he tended to do that a lot. Akemi didn't usually mind because Naruto also radiated a lot of heat anyway so she was never cold.

Akemi smiled when Naruto twitched slightly in his sleep and a big smile spread across his face. She really did appreciate everything that Naruto and Haku were doing for her. Knowing that they were there for her brought Akemi a lot of comfort.

"Naruto-kun." Akemi whispered lowly.

Naruto groaned and turned over in his sleep, his back now facing her.

Akemi quietly laughed under her breath but didn't say anything else. She would let him sleep it off for now. As quietly as she could, Akemi slipped out from her bed and left her room, heading downstairs. Once downstairs, she saw Haku sitting at the table with a coffee in his hands. He seemed to be reading over the Konoha news.

"Morning Onii-san." Akemi greeted with a smile.

Haku looked up and smiled back, "Good morning Imouto. Did you sleep well?" He asked, looking a little concerned. He knew how much the nightmares had been affecting her and Haku had some personal experience when it came to reoccurring nightmares.

Akemi nodded her head, "Like a baby." The nightmares had started to fade now. The comfort of knowing that Orochimaru was dead had given her some closure and that he wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

Haku sighed in relief, "That's good to hear."

Akemi smiled slightly and headed into the kitchen. She was relieved to see that Haku hadn't cooked any breakfast. If he had, then she would have got nightmares from the monstrosity that he whipped up. As she began to start cooking, Akemi looked over to Haku, "Have you got any missions coming up?" She asked curiously. Haku had been going on fewer missions lately and she knew it was because he was concerned about her. This was something she felt guilty about because Haku had worked hard to get where he was and she didn't want that going down the drain because she was having some nightmares.

Haku nodded his head, "Yes, Tsunade-sama sent a message this morning. She wants Team Seven and myself to arrive at her office within the next hour."

Akemi's eyes lit up. She had never been on a mission with Haku and she was really looking forward to it. She couldn't wait to find out what mission they were going on – she hoped that it would be an interesting one. With that to cheer her up, Akemi began making breakfast with a skip in her step. She made a simple dish of rice, miso soup, fermented soybeans, grilled fish, some pickled vegetables and a small salad. She made sure that Haku and Naruto's portions were bigger than hers because they always seemed to eat for Konoha. She was sure they would ask for seconds anyway so she left some in the pots.

It was just as she was serving the meal that Naruto walked down the stairs in his PJs. Naruto let out a big yawn, "What smells so good?" He asked sleepily.

"Breakfast. Now come sit down." Akemi said with a smile.

Haku watched Naruto with a smile, pure affection in his eyes. Naruto was a like a little brother to him and sometimes Naruto could be cute – when he wasn't running his mouth.

Like a zombie, Naruto sat down. However, he became more alert when Akemi placed the food down in front of him. Immediately, he and Haku began to eat with gusto, devouring their food in an instant. Akemi watched for a moment, still amazed how fast they could eat their food without chocking. Sometimes she wondered if they even chewed their food. Akemi quickly moved on and began to eat her own meal because she saw the way Naruto was eyeing her grilled fish. It was of no surprise to Akemi that both Haku and Naruto went back up for seconds, nearly fighting between them of who got the last bit of miso soup.

Within the hour, Naruto, Akemi and Haku had made their way over to the Hokage Tower. It was a wonder of how they actually made it there on time. Haku always tried to get in the bathroom first and would spend ages in there. However, this time Akemi managed to sneak in while she made Haku and Naruto wash up the dishes. They always had a rule in the house – who ever cooked didn't have to wash up. But then Naruto and Haku had a fight of who would go in next and Haku had won that battle. Naruto had been sitting outside the bathroom for nearly thirty minutes before Haku emerged from the bathroom with a smug expression.

As they neared Tsunade's office, Akemi spotted their other two teammates. Naruto also spotted them and smiled.

Sasuke and Sakura appeared to be walking together but Sasuke seemed tense. His shoulders were raised and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. Akemi couldn't see his face, but she could tell that he was annoyed by his stiff posture. Whereas, Sakura appeared to be on cloud nine. She was trying to walk closer to Sasuke and trying to link her arm with his but Sasuke seemed to be evading her.

"Oi! Sakura-chan! Teme!" Naruto yelled out.

Sasuke stopped walking and turned around. His shoulders relaxed when he saw who it was. "Here I thought you three might be late." He said plainly, looking at Naruto and then Akemi.

Akemi sighed, "We nearly did. Those two had a fight of who would go into the bathroom after me." They really needed another bathroom in that apartment but there was no extra space. It was small especially with three people staying there but it was also cosy and Akemi loved that about their home.

Sasuke smirked, he could imagine the chaos in that house.

Sakura glared at Akemi. She'd been having a great time with Sasuke, she had nearly managed to link arms with him too until they showed up. Mentally, Sakura began wishing that Akemi, Naruto and Haku would have been late so she could spend more time with Sasuke.

Sensing this, Akemi looked at Sakura and smirked.

This caused Sakura to nearly hiss at her female teammate.

Haku decided to step in, "Let's head to Tsunade's office, we don't want to be late." He said with a smile. Haku could sense the tension between Sakura and Akemi and wanted to cut in before a fight happened between them. He didn't need to be taking anyone to the hospital this early in the morning.

Agreeing with the Chunin, they all began heading to Tsunade's office. Haku was walking in front, Naruto was talking Sakura's ear off in the middle and that left Akemi and Sasuke to bring up the rear.

As they walked, Akemi looked over to Sasuke, "So how's Itachi at the moment?" She asked, looking over to the younger Uchiha. She knew that Itachi was still under house arrest at the moment as he had come back from the Akatsuki. Tsunade trusted Itachi but it was the Elders breathing down her neck that didn't trust Itachi. Tsunade and Itachi had agreed that he would stay under house arrest for a little longer so the Elders would get off their backs. However, the Elders had no idea that Itachi had already left his house when he helped Akemi escape from Orochimaru and they were never going to find out either.

Sasuke nodded his head, "He's doing okay. But sometimes he will hide when he's annoyed with some of his guards." There were some guards that had been obviously sent by the Elders because of how closely they watched Itachi. They wouldn't talk to the older Uchiha, just stare at him. They were looking for anything to pin on Itachi and get him in trouble but Itachi gave them nothing.

Akemi nodded her head. "I don't blame him." Akemi believed that she probably would have cracked by now. Being under house arrest would have driven her crazy. But she knew that Itachi had to be on his best behaviour to get the Elders off his back.

"What about you?" Sasuke asked, turning his head to look at his other female teammate.

Akemi smiled back bitterly. "I'm getting there. Having Naruto-kun and Onii-san with me is really helping." Honestly, Akemi didn't think it would have affected her this much but it had. Akemi felt like her head was a mess at times and it also didn't help that Yukiko had made an appearance and had been adamant about ignoring her. Akemi had tried to speak with Yukiko and find out more about the Shīringu but Yukiko had refused to even stay in the same room as her for too long and it was frustrating.

Sasuke nodded his head in understanding. He opened his mouth to say something but then he stopped himself. He was struggling to say what he really wanted to. Sasuke wanted to tell Akemi that she could also rely on him but the words just wouldn't come out. Eventually, Sasuke just gave up and mentally sighed to himself. Ever since the Land of Snow mission, Sasuke had been feeling weird around Akemi and he didn't understand why.

Soon, they found themselves at Tsunade's door. Haku knocked on the door loudly and Tsunade replied back by shouting at them to come in.

Haku opened the door and they all stepped inside.

Tsunade looked up at them and sighed. "About time you got here." She said, taking a sip of her sake. At her desk, there were piles of paperwork, all sprawled out in organised chaos. On the desk was also two big bottles of sake and one looked half empty already.

Shizune was standing on the corner of Tsunade's office, sighing in exasperation.

"Hey! We're on time Obaa-san!" Naruto exclaimed out loud, looking at the clock on the wall.

Tsunade glared at him, "Don't call me that, you brat!" She yelled back, but there was no malice in her speech. Naruto was one of the only people that could get away with calling her that without being murdered violently.

Haku sighed deeply, "Do you have a mission for us, Tsunade-sama?" He asked, stepping in before Tsunade threw Naruto out of the window – something she had done before when Naruto had got on her last nerve.

Tsunade leaned back in her seat and nodded her head, "Yes. We received a request from a person who would like to remain anonymous for the moment. This person has lost his pet ferret and he would someone to track it down. There are no other Genin teams available at the moment and Kakashi is on another mission at the moment so you five will be going on this mission."

Akemi nearly frowned. This mission sounded familiar – very familiar actually. It also didn't help that she was starting to feel uneasy, just like she had the morning they ventured to the Land of Snow. Akemi tried to remember if anything happened after the Land of Snow and tried to think about what movie came after the Land of the Snow but she was coming up blank.

Naruto began to whine, "But that sounds boring…"

"What rank mission is this?" Sasuke asked, not looking very interested in the mission.

"Ungrateful brats," Tsunade mumbled under breath before looking back to them. "It's a C-rank. The person wanted this ferret back as soon as possible. You have twelve hours to find it." She answered back.

"Where was it last spotted?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade spared her a glance. "In the south side of the forest."

Akemi, Naruto and Sasuke all shared a look. The south side of the forest was the largest part in Konoha and the densest. It seemed as though this mission was going to take a bit longer than planned with how much forest they would have to share.

"Any description of what the ferret looks like?" Akemi asked. She hoped that it would be distinct and easy to spot.

Tsunade nodded her head. "It was reported that it was ferret with tan fur and red eyes. It also has black fur on its back legs, that and its red eyes are its most distinctive features." As she spoke, Tsunade poured herself another cup of sake, taking a long sip from the cup. Tsunade could feel Shizune's disapproving glare but she made a point of ignoring it.

Akemi frowned, the description of the ferret also sounded peculiar. It wasn't usual for a ferret to have red eyes.

Haku nodded his head, "We won't let you down." With that, Haku bowed and left the room once he was dismissed with everyone following behind him.

 **NARUTO**

A few hours later and Team 7 and Haku had managed to locate the ferret. It had taken them a while to scan the forest because of how large and dense it was. The south side of the forest housed many different types of animals and that meant a lot of ferrets too. However, the colouring of all the other ferrets was darker and hardly any of them were any lighter than a dark brown. After the first hour, Naruto and Sakura were ready to call it quits and take a break and Akemi wasn't far behind them. Looking for a ferret in the south side of the forest was a tedious task and not one that Akemi had been looking forward to. It was actually Sasuke who found the ferret first, noticing its red eyes a mile away. Now that they had found their target, they began tailing the animal and began setting up traps. Haku and Naruto were in charge of setting up the traps, with Sasuke, Akemi and Sakura leading the ferret into the traps. They were there to make sure the animal didn't run off course and lead it to the traps that Haku and Naruto had set up. Naruto and Haku had set up a trap on top of the hill and had laid out food. The plan was to get the ferret over to the trap, where there was a box waiting to capture it. Sasuke, Akemi and Sakura had managed to steer it in the right direction. Just as they had planned, the ferret spotted the food and darted towards it. Once it reached the food, the ferret began to munch on the food, completely oblivious to its surroundings. Once its defences were down, Naruto and Haku dropped the box over it, trapping it.

The ferret let out a loud squeal when the box dropped on it. It began to rattle the box, hoping to escape but the box didn't move. After a few moments, the rattling stopped as the ferret appeared to calm down from the surprise.

Once their target was secure, Naruto grinned, "That was easy!" He had expected the ferret to put up more of a fight.

"You call that easy?! We've been at this for hours!" Sakura shouted at him, a vein visibly throbbing in her forehead.

"We could have been here much longer. This part of the forest is very dense." Haku reminded Sakura with a patient smile.

Sakura flushed at being pulled up and looked down at the ground.

"Let's grab him and go," Sasuke said, looking at the box. He wanted this mission to be over already as being stuck in a forest looking for a ferret wasn't his idea of a good mission. He could have been spending his time training or spending time with Itachi.

Saying nothing, Akemi kneeled down and lifted the box slightly. Huge, adorable red eyes peered out at Akemi in curiosity. When the ferret saw it was free, it jumped up and ran up Akemi's arm and nuzzled her face.

"He's definitely friendly," Akemi commented with a smile as she petted the ferret affectionately. She giggled slightly when the ferret's fur tickled her neck as she listened to it purr in content. Akemi watched the ferret with a smile but she couldn't help but notice that the ferret looked very familiar, like she had seen it before. However, Akemi couldn't pinpoint where she had seen it before. Akemi let the matter go, for now, it would probably come to her later when she wasn't thinking about it.

Sasuke watched the ferret closely, "That's definitely our ferret. He has the black fur on its back legs."

Naruto pulled off his bag which they were going to store the ferret it. "Let's cage him before he runs off," Naruto said with a grin.

Sakura watched as Akemi handed the ferret over to Naruto and she frowned. She hadn't really done anything that mission – nothing that Sasuke would be impressed by and she was feeling bitter. "Can't believe that the ferret fell for it." She muttered lowly so no one would hear.

However, the ferret heard this and he began to growl at Sakura and his red eyes narrowed.

Akemi looked down at the ferret and then at Sakura, "What did you do?" She asked with a sigh in her tone. The ferret had been completely fine until Akemi had seen Sakura mutter something under her breath.

Haku, Sasuke and Naruto turned to face Sakura.

Sakura flushed bright red, "I-I didn't say anything!"

The ferret disagreed because he let out another growl before jumping out of Naruto's arms and charged at Sakura. Sakura let out a shriek and began running away from the small animal that chased after her. "Make it stop!" She screamed out as she ran away with fearful tears in her eyes. She didn't want to become the ferret's scratching post.

Haku sighed and shook his head.

"Should we go help her?" Naruto asked, looking at his other teammates.

"We need to make sure she doesn't lose our target, so yes," Haku answered with a frown as he began running in the direction that Sakura and the ferret had run off to. Sasuke rolled his eyes but followed after Haku with Akemi and Naruto on his heels.

It only took a few minutes of running, but when they stopped they had to marvel at the scene in front of them. Sakura was sat on a branch of a tree and was clinging onto it for dear life and the ferret was down on the ground, circling the tree while growling. Sakura appeared to have some angry red scratched on her arms, showing that she wasn't fast enough getting away from the ferret fully.

"Help me!" Sakura cried out, clinging onto the tree tightly.

Akemi cracked immediately, she threw her head back in laughter at the sight in front of her. Soon, Naruto joined her and they leaned against one another. They couldn't believe what they had just seen and it was something that Akemi was never going to forget for a long time. Sasuke smirked slightly, also finding it amusing too.

"Don't laugh at me!" Sakura yelled out in annoyance.

"Sakura, what are you doing in a tree?" Haku asked with a frown.

Sakura pointed a finger at the ferret, "That thing attacked me!"

The ferret hissed back in anger, not liking the fact he was being referred to as _it_.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke walked forward and kneeled down in front of the ferret. The ferret instantly stopped growling and looked at the young Uchiha with wide and innocent eyes. Wordlessly, the ferret jumped onto Sasuke and settled on his left shoulder, nuzzling into his neck. "There, now get down," Sasuke said walking back over to Naruto and Akemi – who had now calmed down from laughing so hard.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed with hearts in her eyes. Sasuke had come to her rescue and had taken the ferret away from her. Now that she was safe, Sakura jumped down from the tree but stayed away until Sasuke had safely placed the ferret into the cage that Naruto had in his bag.

With the target secure, Haku looked back to his team. "Let's give this ferret back to its owner and then we can head home," He said with a smile.

"Yes!" Naruto and Akemi cheered together, throwing a fist in the air. They couldn't wait to give back the ferret and then go home. This had probably been one of their most boring missions let – expect from the one where they had to pick up weeds – but it was a very close second.

Team Seven, plus Haku began to make their way deeper into the forest. Tsunade has given them a map and explained that the meeting point was over a large hill in another Village. It was going to be a couple of hours because they had strayed a fair distance away but at least now they could relax and not have to look at every single ferret that crossed their path. Eventually, they came across a jagged mountain path that led straight to a wooden bridge.

As they walked, Sakura looked at Naruto's bag and sighed. "I can't believe someone would bother paying us to get that thing," She said in disdain.

Akemi looked at her, "No wonder that ferret didn't like you,"

Sakura glared at her.

"The mission is nearly over, Sakura. Now, we just need to go back to hand over the ferret and then we can head back to Konoha." Haku said, trying to lighten the mood.

Sakura frowned and grumbled under her breath, "It would be cute if it wasn't so vicious," She glared at Naruto's bag, the scratches on her arms still burned. Akemi had refused to heal her scratches because she said that it was Sakura's own fault for aggravating the ferret in the first place.

Sasuke heard this and mentally sighed, choosing not to say anything.

Haku looked down at his map and smiled, "We're on track. We cross this bridge and then it's over the hill." He said looking up at the scene in front of him.

"Then let's go!" Naruto cheered, walking faster towards the bridge.

Akemi peaked around Haku and saw the map. She saw the warning sign that told people that the bridge was dangerous. "Be careful, Naruto-kun! The bridge is unstable!" She called out just before Naruto took a step on the bridge.

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, hearing Akemi's warning. Slowly, Naruto began walking across the bridge, but a lot more carefully. He made sure that all his steps were light and he didn't put too much pressure on any spot. Soon, Naruto made it across safely and it was decided that each person should walk alone so the bridge didn't break. A few moments later, all members of Team Seven and Haku made it onto the other side safely. They all continued to walk on and Akemi turned back to look at the bridge. There was something about it that was so familiar. She had a sense of Déjà vu and she had a feeling that Naruto had avoided something. However, no matter what Akemi did, she couldn't think of why she was feeling as though this was all so familiar.

Haku looked down at the map again and pointed, "Just over there now," He said with a smile.

Sakura sighed in relief, "Thank goodness."

Sasuke frowned and looked around. "That's weird. There is no one around at all, it's completely empty." Sasuke knew how popular the Konoha forests were, families liked to go out for walks and other ninjas were there on missions as well. There were also usually people training in the forests but there was no one there. There were hardly any noises from the animals which unnerved Sasuke immediately and he felt as though something wasn't right.

"He's right," Akemi said with a frown, also looking around and she saw nothing. It was almost eerie how quiet the forest was.

Naruto and Haku nodded their heads in agreement. They too had noticed the difference but had kept it to themselves. However, Sakura was looking at her teammates in confusion, she didn't see the issue of there being anyone there but she kept this to herself.

"I'll go, scout, the west side, you guys cover the other borders," Haku said, setting up the communication devices so they could speak with one another at long distances. With it set up, Haku ran off in the direction of the west and Team Seven ran in the other direction on the east side.

Sasuke, Akemi, Naruto and Sakura all began running and jumping over to the east side. Now in the trees, they watched the field they were meant to cross to see if there was anything suspicious going on. On the top branch was Sasuke and Akemi and on the branch below them, Naruto and Sakura stood together.

"It's too quiet," Sasuke said, watching the scene carefully.

Akemi hummed in agreement.

Just then, the ferret began to squirm in Naruto's began, screeching and hissing. Naruto turned his head and looked at the bag, "What's wrong with him?" He asked with a frown. The ferret had been completely fine the entire way and now he was acting up.

"Just keep him away from me." Sakura hissed at him, watching the bag nervously.

Akemi looked down and frowned. Again something didn't feel right about that ferret and she didn't know why.

Sasuke's head snapped up and looked in the direction behind them, "Jump!" He shouted as he jumped from the tree, grabbing Akemi's wrist in the process and taking her with him. He had sensed five presences behind them and he felt them about to attack. Naruto and Sakura also jumped out of the way in time, heeding Sasuke's warning. Akemi's eyes widened when she saw five figures appear. They appeared to be tall suits of armour that had no faces and had large heavy weapons – maces to be exact. One of the maces smashed into the tree that they had been all standing in, completely destroying the tree.

Akemi landed and watched for a moment as the suits of armour turned and attacked them. Naruto tried to attack one of them, but his punch had no effect whatsoever. Akemi watched carefully and she doubted that the suites were even humans at all.

" _What's happening_?!" Haku shouted through the communications device.

"We've got company, five of them. They're suites of armour and our attacks don't seem to be doing much." Akemi answered back as she jumped back further, avoiding an attack from the enemy's mace.

" _I'm on my way_!" Haku answered back.

Turning her attention onto the enemy, Akemi pounced and attacked the enemy using her fists. She punched the enemy in the head but it appeared to do nothing, her attack only left a dent in its armour. Seeing this, Akemi grabbed a few kunai and threw it at them, all of them having explosive tags on them. "Kai!" Akemi yelled, jumping out of the way in time for an explosion to go off. All ten explosive tags exploded and she waited to see what happened. Taking this chance, Akemi looked around and saw Sasuke and Naruto fighting with two of them, and their attacks appeared to be doing minimal. Sasuke's kunai seemed as though it bounced off them and Naruto's Taijutsu only put slight dents in its armour. Akemi looked down at her opponent and saw scattered bits of amour, its mace left on the ground. The explosive tags worked. However, it was the armoured enemies that were confusing Akemi the most, she had seen them before someone but she didn't know where. The answer was on the tip of her tongue but it wouldn't come out.

Looking back at her teammates, she saw that they had finished theirs off soon enough. Naruto and Sasuke's opponents were buried deep in the ground, rubble piled on top of them.

Akemi ran over to them, "You guys okay?" She asked, checking them for any injuries.

Sasuke shook his head, "We're fine."

"How's your guy?" Naruto asked, also checking Akemi for any injuries.

"Down for the count," Akemi replied back with a grin.

Sasuke smirked but then frowned when his eyes spotted someone else. "Guys, new enemy dead ahead." He said lowly, his obsidian eyes trained on the figure in front of him. The figured had appeared out of nowhere and Sasuke hadn't felt his presence.

Akemi and Naruto turned to face where Sasuke was looking and saw what was in front of them. It was a mysterious man clothed in knight armour. The man's face was covered by a metal helmet but long blonde hair was hanging behind him. Akemi's eyes widened when she saw the man, she recognised him but because his face was covered, she couldn't be certain.

The man stretched his arm out and motioned his hand in a thumbs down position.

Naruto frowned and watched him with narrowed eyes, "So, you're the leader." As he finished saying this, Naruto charged at the man with his fists raised for an attack. Naruto sent a flying punch to the man's head, but the man moved out of the way gracefully and spun around to evade another one of Naruto's flying fists. Naruto grit his teeth when he saw that none of his attacks was making contact and he doubled his efforts by increasing the speed of his attacks. However, none of Naruto's attacks made contact as the man continued to dance around Naruto with practised ease. The man was simply sidestepping Naruto's attacks as though they were nothing to him.

Sasuke frowned as he watched the man for a moment, noticing that the man appeared to be toying with Naruto. Decided to come to his teammate's aid, Sasuke jumped into the fight, throwing kunai at the man and attacked him using Taijutsu but his none of his attacks made contact as the man also sidestepped Sasuke's attacks. Sasuke and Naruto shared a look with another and nodded at each other. They both turned to face the man and attacked at the same time with Naruto attacking from the right and Sasuke from the left. The man glanced in their direction and jumped back away from both of them.

"Surprise!" Akemi shouted at the man, who had his back to her. Not one to be left out, Akemi had watched for a moment before deciding to join in with the fight. After all, she didn't want Naruto and Sasuke to have all the glory. The man turned his head and his red eyes widened, not noticing that Akemi had appeared behind him. He saw her incoming fist and twisted his body around so now he was facing Akemi. The man grabbed Akemi's arm and swung her around into the air.

Now in the air, Akemi reached into her pouch and threw an exploding kunai at the man. Akemi landed on the ground, right next to Naruto and Sasuke as they watched the kunai explode, covering their eyes from the bright light.

"Did that do it?" Naruto asked, trying to see what happened to the man but he was unable to because of the thick smoke.

Akemi blinked and activated her Shīringu, "No, he's still standing." Akemi could still see the man's shadow and he appeared to be relatively unharmed.

The man's figure appeared from the smoke, a short sword in his hand. He swung the sword to and made the smoke around him disappear. There was some damage to his armour and some burns visible on his face.

Just then, a familiar scream sounded behind them. Turning her Shīringu off, Akemi turned her head and saw that Sakura was being by one of the enemies by the back of her clothing. Sakura was screaming and squirming around, trying to get herself free. However, Sakura couldn't get free. She had been caught off guard and was now paying the price for it.

"Does anyone want to go help Sakura?" Akemi asked, looking over to her other teammates.

Naruto and Sasuke spared Sakura a glance and didn't visibly react. Their attention was on the man in front of them at the moment. They couldn't risk being caught off guard but at the same time, they needed to help their teammate. Akemi glanced back at the man and then at her male teammates. She was certain that they would be able to handle him without her help. "I'll be back in a moment." She said, turning around and running over to her pink-haired teammate.

Akemi ran over to Sakura – who was still squirming – and got her Sais out from her pouch. When she was close, Akemi slashed at the arm that was holding Sakura, but Akemi found that her attack did nothing.

"You okay, Sakura?" Akemi asked, looking at her teammate to see if there were any visible injuries. Akemi didn't like how close the enemy's hand was to Sakura's neck. She hated dealing with back and spine injuries because of how complicated they were and Akemi hoped that wasn't the issue for Sakura.

"Just get me loose!" Sakura cried out, trying to punch whoever was holding onto her. However, no matter how hard she tried, the enemy was just out of her reach to attack.

Akemi nodded her head and began her hand seals. " **Suiton: Rekkū Suigeki**!" Akemi placed two fingers over her mouth and she blew. In an instant, extremely large jets of water from Akemi's mouth at high speeds, all aiming for the suite of armour.

Sakura let out a shrill scream when she saw the oncoming attack which only got louder when the enemy flung her away so they could avoid the attack. Sakura landed on the ground clumsily but jumped up and hid away in a tree just in case the enemy tried to attack her again.

Now that Sakura was safe, Akemi took out three explosive kunai and she charged at the enemy. The enemy picked up its mace and swung at Akemi, but she jumped over him and as she jumped over him, Akemi stuck the three explosive kunai on the enemy. Akemi landed on the ground with her back to the enemy and she jumped away further from the enemy, wanting to get away before the explosion went off. Akemi hid in the tree, a few metres away from the enemy when the explosions went off, and the booming sound echoing through the forest.

Peaking her head around the corner, Akemi saw that the enemy had been blasted to bits. There were pieces of broken armour laying on the ground, and its mace was now lying useless on the ground without its wielder.

Akemi looked over to Sakura, who was hiding in a nearby tree. "Make sure there are no more of them around. Think you can handle it?" Akemi asked with a grin. She was purposely goading Sakura to make her more determined. Sakura had a habit of trying to prove Akemi wrong while also trying to impress Sasuke at the same time – but the latter never worked.

"Of course I can!" Sakura shouted at Akemi with a glare. Her emerald eyes now filled with determination.

Grinning, Akemi jumped off in the direction of Naruto and Sasuke. Just as she was a few metres away, Akemi saw both Naruto and Sasuke attack the man with their Rasengan and Chidori aimed at him respectively. Akemi watched as the man attacked back with his sword, it became clouded in a turquoise fire and how an explosion went off when their attacks met in the middle. The ground around Naruto and the man crumbled, with the ground below Sasuke more secure. Naruto and the man began to fall, heading into the dark abyss.

Akemi's eyes widened as she watched one of her teammates fall. "Naruto-kun!" Akemi screamed out as she ran after him at full speed. When she reached the edge of the cliff, Akemi jumped off after him.

"You idiot!" Sasuke screamed behind her, watching this all happen.

Turning her head in mid-fall, Akemi looked at Sasuke and grinned at him. Sasuke glared at her and grit his teeth. Without a second thought, Sasuke too jumped off the cliff, following behind Naruto and Akemi.

Sakura was now done with dealing with the enemies. She looked down at her handiwork and grinned to herself. She couldn't wait to show Sasuke and how impressed he would be with her in handling it on her own. Sakura turned around to look for her teammates but saw no one. Sakura frowned.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out as she looked around. Hearing no one, Sakura began to walk around to look for the rest of her team.

Soon, Sakura came across the edge of the cliff and saw the scene around her. The ground below was very unstable, with many cracks in them. There was also a lot of debris and it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. When Sakura had realised what had happened, her eyes widened as she shock hit her, her whole team had gone over the cliff without her even noticing. She hoped that Sasuke was okay though and that he managed to not get hurt. Sakura looked over the edge and couldn't see anything because of how dark it was.

"Haku and Itachi are going to kill me," Sakura muttered lowly.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel – Part Two

 **Disclaimer** **: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Akemi.**

 **Summary** **: Akemi Nakahara is back! You've watched her journey through the series, and now watch as she navigates her way through the movies.**

 **Guest: Thank you! I am glad you liked this chapter! I think I always envisioned Akemi and Sasuke getting together. I think he needed someone who would challenge him and won't let him get away with things easily. However, there was a point in the Naruto Shippuden were I was tempting to pair Akemi and Gaara together but I decided against it. I also did seriously consider Itachi as a potential love interest too.**

 **But, if you guys had to pick, who would you have paired Akemi if she and Sasuke didn't get together? I am really curious to know what you guys think.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **NARUTO**

Akemi woke up in pain and felt very confused. She knew she was laying on the ground – the unmistakable ache in her back spoke volumes. Akemi was also very warm due to a blanket covering her, and that's why she was confused. The last thing Akemi remembered was jumping off a cliff after Naruto – probably not her best idea ever – and then nothing. Slowly, Akemi opened her eyes and noticed how dark it was. Looking around, Akemi spotted a caravan and a large canopy covering them and it was supported by two wooden poles. Turning her head, Akemi could see a load of people. Some were playing instruments by the fire, others were cooking food and children were playing together with wide smiles on their faces. Turning her head to her other side, Akemi spotted Sasuke next to her. Next to Sasuke, was Naruto and last was the unknown man that had attacked them.

Gritting her teeth, Akemi sat up and winced in pain. Looking down, she saw how heavily bandaged she was – she nearly resembled a mummy. Looking down, Akemi saw that she was in her undershirt and her chest area was wrapped up. Out of the corner of her eye, Akemi spotted her shirt neatly folded nearby. Akemi placed a hand over her chest and did a Diagnostic Jutsu, to check out the damage. She had a few broken ribs, a few bruised ones but everything was mainly bruises and scrapes along her body, something she could easily heal. Focusing on her ribs, Akemi's hand glowed green as she began healing herself. Akemi nearly sighed in relief when her breathing didn't feel as restricted anymore and she relaxed. Within minutes, Akemi's ribs were mainly healed and she was happy with the result.

Just then, Naruto let out a groan as he woke up. Naruto blinked a few times and looked around. He too sat up and winced in pain. "Akemi-chan, where are we?" Naruto asked in a low voice, not knowing where they were. Naruto took notice to the fact he didn't have his usual jacket on and looked around for it. His jacket and undershirt had been taken off and his chest was covered in bandages too. He soon spotted them neatly folded near him.

"I don't know Naruto-kun. Are you hurt?" Akemi asked, looking over to her blonde haired teammate in worry.

"My back hurts," Naruto winced again when he moved.

Without another word, Akemi stood up from her makeshift bed and walked over to Naruto. Naruto moved over and sat so his back was facing Akemi and she could do her thing. Sitting down crossed legged, Akemi performed a Diagnostics Jutsu. "Damn, Naruto-kun. You've chipped your lower spine slightly," Akemi winced at the injury. No wonder he was in pain when he moved.

Naruto groaned, "Can you heal it?"

Akemi nodded her head, "Of course I can, but it will take a little time." She said as her hands turned a bright green colour as she began healing Naruto's lower spine. Akemi hated treating spine injuries as they were always so fickle. As Akemi healed Naruto, her gaze wandered over to the mysterious man lying next to Naruto. Seeing the man without his mask made something click inside Akemi's brain, causing her to gasp out loud.

Turning his head slightly, Naruto looked at her in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"We'll discuss it _later_ ," Akemi stressed out the last word as a hint. It had all clicked in her mind now and she knew who the man, he was Temujin. Akemi realised that it was time for the second Naruto movie and Akemi was cursing herself. The second movie was probably one of her least favourite movies and because of that, she didn't remember much from it. She knew that this mission would focus on the Gelel stone but that's where she drew a blank. Akemi was hoping it would come back her as time went on.

Naruto appeared to get the hint as he nodded his head and turned back around.

A few minutes later, Akemi had managed to heal Naruto and the chip on his spine was now gone. The process that been speeded up by Kurama as he too was healing Naruto at the same time. "There, all done," Akemi said as the green glow around her hands disappeared.

Standing up, Naruto tested his movements and grinned widely when he didn't feel any pain, "Thanks Akemi-chan!"

Just then, an older gentleman appeared out of the caravan. The man was an elderly with a bulbous red nose, neck-length white hair, a short moustache on both sides of his face and a long beard of the same colour. He wore a brown tunic with a black under-shirt and red sleeves, and a blue fez-hat with a pink feather sticking out of it. "Ah, I didn't expect you guys to be awake just yet. I was thinking it would take two more days," The man said with a kind smile.

Naruto looked at the man and tilted his head, "Who are you?" He asked with a frown.

The elderly man laughed, "My names Kahiko, I am the elder of these people, we're wanderers you see!" He said with a smile. In his hands were a bowl which contained come herbs, they were intended to help with the young Ninjas recovery.

"Did you find us?" Akemi asked politely. She didn't want to offend the people that helped her, though she was wondering who had bandaged her.

Kahiko nodded his head, "Yep! It's a good thing we did too otherwise the river would have washed you four away." He said, walking over to them. Kahiko walked over to check over Akemi's wounds. He looked at her to give consent and Akemi nodded her head as she didn't have the heart to tell him that she had already healed herself and Naruto. However, Kahiko was quick to pick up on her lack of injuries. "You're healed!" Kahiko exclaimed loudly with wide eyes. He had never seen people heal so quickly before.

"It's because she knows healing Jutsu," Naruto answered back with a grin.

Kahiko blinked slowly as he took in this information. As travellers, they had come across Ninja before, but they hadn't seen Healing Jutsu before.

"Comes in very handy when my teammates are reckless," Akemi answered with a cheeky grin on her face, looking at Naruto as she said this. Akemi was glad that she had kept up with the Medical Ninjutsu because she was finding that it came in handy. Naruto was by far the most reckless of her teammates and often needed her attention but Sasuke was just as bad. Whenever Naruto or Sasuke competed against one another, they would always go all out and it always ended up with Akemi healing their wounds because they didn't know when to quit. Haku was also reckless and would often go to her instead of going to the hospital.

"Akemi-chan…" Naruto whined but he didn't deny it.

Kahiko smiled at the interaction and looked at the other blonde male in the room. "And it seems another one has woken up early." He said with a grin.

Akemi looked over to Sasuke, thinking that Kahiko was talking about him. However, Sasuke was still sound asleep, snoring lightly in his makeshift bed. Sasuke also seemed to be covered in bandages and his top was folded neatly near him.

"You again!" Naruto yelled out, jumping up and pointing an accusing finger.

Akemi turned her head and found Naruto glaring at Temujin. Temujin was attempting to get up but appeared to struggle, his red eyes staring back at Naruto, not saying anything.

"Well, it's nice to see you've got your energy back. We're travelling together so our differences should be put aside," Kahiko said with a warm smile. He gently patted Naruto's back, hoping to ease any tension in the room.

Naruto turned to Kahiko, "But Ojisan!"

Just then, something began to move from under Temujin's blanket, capturing everyone's attention. Kahiko, Naruto and Akemi watched as the lump travelled to the edge. Familiar red eyes popped out of the blanket.

"It's the ferret," Akemi said, tilting her head to the side.

When the ferret saw Akemi, it let out a little squeal as it jumped out of the blanket and into Akemi's arms. Akemi laughed slightly when it ran up her arms and nuzzled into her neck.

"How cute." Akemi cooed as she petted the ferret.

Kahiko smiled as he too petted the ferret, "He's always been friendly, especially to girls." Now that the ferret was getting petted by Kahiko, the ferret jumped out of Akemi's arms and into Kahiko's instead.

Naruto and Akemi shared a look as identical grins appeared on their faces. They remembered what the ferret did to Sakura and they couldn't help but mentally disagree with what Kahiko said. The ferret had not liked Sakura at all, making its distaste for Sakura very well known. However, it had been Sakura's fault because she had insulted the animal so they didn't blame the ferret for reacting the way it did.

"Now, let's apply this," Kahiko said, walking over to Temujin as he was the only one awake that wasn't fully healed.

Temujin was reluctant to accept help at first, but he found himself giving into Kahiko – who was very persistent.

Naruto turned to Akemi, "Should we wake Sasuke?"

Akemi paled instantly, "Not it!" She exclaimed, throwing her hand up in the air. She didn't want to wake Sasuke up for one simple reason as he was an absolute demon to wake up. Akemi never found Sasuke intimidating before until she was tasked with waking him up once on a mission and she regretted it. Sasuke tended to attack whoever was near him and Akemi had not been aware of that when she did it. The only reason she had volunteered in the first place was because Kakashi had asked her. Originally, Akemi had said no and Kakashi had informed her that he would ask Sakura instead then but Akemi didn't want to risk a sleeping Sasuke in the same room as Sakura. While asleep, Sasuke had attacked her, leaving bruises on her arms for days because she was too lazy to heal them.

"But I don't want to wake him up either!" Naruto exclaimed back, his eyes wide in terror. He too had the displeasure of waking Sasuke up once. Kakashi had asked him and the only reason Naruto agreed in the first place was so he could play a prank on the sleeping Uchiha. However, it had ended up with Naruto having a black eye and a broken wrist, so there was no way he wanted to repeat that.

Both Naruto and Akemi looked at one another and then at Sasuke. Sasuke was still sleeping peacefully and they didn't want to disturb that.

"What if we just didn't wake him up?" Akemi suggested.

Naruto considered the idea but then shook his head, "He would be pissed if something happened and we didn't wake him up." Naruto knew that Sasuke did not like to be excluded in any part of the missions. Also, Sasuke wouldn't like the thought that he had been asleep while the person who attacked them was awake.

Akemi grumbled lowly, agreeing with Naruto. "What if we sent a clone?" Akemi asked with a new idea.

Nodding his head, Naruto made some hand seals, " **Shadow Clone Jutsu**!" The clone appeared right next to Naruto, an exact replica of the Uzumaki. "Wake him up," Naruto ordered the clone, pointing to Sasuke.

The Naruto clone scoffed, "That's easy!" He exclaimed while walking over to Sasuke without an ounce of fear. The clone kneeled next to Sasuke and was about to touch his shoulder and shake him. However, the clone didn't get close as Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed the Naruto clone, throwing him metres away. The clone landed on the ground hard and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto turned to Akemi, "Got any more ideas?"

"Maybe if we get a long stick," Akemi suggested again, really not wanting to get any closer to Sasuke.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He took a step back behind Akemi and pushed her forward. "Your turn!" He laughed with a large grin.

Akemi's eyes widened as she felt herself get pushed. "Bastard!" She yelled at him as Naruto had pushed her close to Sasuke. Turning her head back, Akemi sent pleading eyes at Naruto but he turned his head away, pretending he never saw them. Akemi cursed under her breath again as she took a deep breath.

Walking a bit closer to Sasuke, Akemi called out. "Sasuke, get up!" She shouted slightly, hoping that would wake him up.

However, Sasuke never moved an inch.

Grumbling, Akemi inched forward slightly, "Sasuke?" Akemi called again, praying that he would wake up so she didn't have to get any closer.

Sasuke continued to snore on.

Akemi inched forward the tiniest bit and reached out to shake Sasuke. However, before she even got close, Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed her, pulling her towards him. Akemi let out a yelp as she landed awkwardly on Sasuke. Sasuke still had a death grip on her wrist so she couldn't get free either.

"Naruto-kun, help me!" Akemi shouted a whisper.

Naruto looked at her and began laughing. He threw his head back in laughter as he held his sides. "This is amazing! I don't think you need my help, Akemi-chan, you look pretty cosy," Naruto said with a suggestive smirk.

Akemi flushed red in embarrassment. "I'll kill you in your sleep!" Akemi screamed at him in anger.

Naruto continued to laugh at her predicament, not lifting a finger to help.

Hissing lowly, Akemi looked to Sasuke and glared at him. It was his fault she was in this situation in the first place. However, she was also mentally cursing Naruto too, swearing vengeance against him. Pumping chakra into her wrist and legs, Akemi tore her arm out of his grip and jumped away, out of reach. Akemi then looked at Naruto, "Thank you so much for your help." She told him in a sarcastic tone.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "You're not mad, are you?"

"We'll see," Akemi answered back with a smirk of her own.

Naruto began to sweat, not fully trusting the smirk on Akemi's face. It was too devious for him to trust because it reminded him of his grin when he was planning something. He knew that Akemi was planning something, he just didn't know what she was planning.

Turning her attention back to Sasuke, Akemi crossed her arms. "Oh Sakura, I didn't see you there! I am sure Sasuke would love being woken up by you!" Akemi said in an overly fake and kind voice. Just to add the cherry on top, Akemi let out a fake squeal – one very close to Sakura's squeal when Sasuke did anything.

Naruto watched on very confused.

Sasuke's eyes shot open as he immediately sat up only to realise how much pain he was in. Sasuke winced in pain and hunched over, his shoulder was killing him. Sasuke looked around and didn't see Sakura anywhere, making him sigh in relief.

Akemi glared at Naruto, "You're next, Naruto-kun." Akemi said with a devious smile. She would get her revenge, just not now.

Naruto visibly gulped.

Feeling eyes on her, Akemi turned around. Kahiko and Temujin had moved further away to heal his wounds. Temujin's red eyes stared at Akemi with a blank expression and Akemi returned the look. Her eyes trailed down to the mark on his chest, where the jewel was embedded in him. Akemi took notice to the fact his wounds were healing up quickly, like Naruto's wounds had too. The jewel that was infused into Temujin was healing him at a quicker pace than normal. Akemi remembered this from the anime as she tried to remember the rest of it.

"Akemi," Sasuke said, getting her attention.

Akemi turned back around and saw Naruto and Sasuke staring at her. "How are you feeling, Sasuke?" She asked, moving closer to her teammates.

Sasuke winced as he moved his shoulder, "I'm fine," He said, turning his head away from Akemi so she couldn't tell he was lying.

"Then why are you wincing?" Naruto asked back, not believing his teammate for a second. He knew that Sasuke was too proud to ask for help even when he needed it.

"Stop being so prideful, Sasuke," Akemi said rolling her eyes. She had never met anyone who put their pride before anything else and in all honesty, it was quite endearing. However, Akemi was more used to it than she was before. She walked over to Sasuke and sat behind him and begun healing him. As she was healing him, she found that Sasuke had a dislocated shoulder and his other arm was chipped.

Sasuke said nothing, but he visibly relaxed after Akemi had started healing him.

"My, my. How useful it is to have a healer," Kahiko said, walking back over to Konoha Genin Ninja. He had just finished applying the paste onto Temujin and was now letting someone else bandage him as that wasn't his forte.

Naruto grinned at him, "Yup! She didn't have to heal me much though, I heal fast," He said proudly.

Sasuke tensed as he stared at Kahiko with cautious eyes.

Feeling him tense under her hands, Akemi leaned over slightly. "It's okay Sasuke, he can be trusted. He is the head of the caravan group and he found us four," She whispered slightly, watching Naruto and Kahiko talk with one another.

"Us four?" Sasuke repeated back, sounding confused. Sasuke looked around and the spotted the man that had been attacking them, sitting just a few feet away. Sasuke tensed further as he glared at the man.

Akemi stopped healing him and tightened her grip around his shoulders. "Don't Sasuke. Not now," She warned him, being mindful not to put too much pressure on his bad shoulder. Akemi didn't want Sasuke attacking Temujin, especially when he was injured he would just make himself worse.

"Che," Sasuke spat before forcing himself to relax.

Now that he was more relaxed, Akemi continued to heal Sasuke. His chipped elbow was easy enough, but her focus was now on his dislocated shoulder. She was using her chakra to slowly push it back into the socket without causing too much pain. After that, she would need to check for any nerve damage to the shoulder and repair that.

Just then, the ferret ran over to Kahiko and climbed up to him, settling on his shoulder before nuzzling his face.

"He's really friendly, the ferret," Akemi pointed out, mentally excluding Sakura from that statement.

Kahiko nodded his head in agreement, "Nerugui is very friendly indeed! He also recognises people so he won't bite me at all," Kahiko said, taking out a bag of treats and hand-feeding Nerugui. Nerugui let out a little squeak in appreciation before munching down on the food.

"Do you know him?" Sasuke asked.

"Yep! He's never been separated from the caravan until now. Isn't it wonderful that you've found your way back home safely, Nerugui?" Kahiko said, petting Nerugui with a smile on his face.

Akemi looked over, "So, you're our client then? We were meant to deliver Nerugui back to his owner," Akemi said while still healing Sasuke. This bit of information did ring a bell with her and now she understood why the ferret looked so familiar.

Kahiko smiled and nodded his head, "He's our precious little treasure. We wander all the time, so we arranged to have him brought to a border village. So why is he here?" Kahiko asked, looking at three Genin in curiosity. When the Konoha Ninja hadn't arrived to deliver Nerugui at the border, he had been incredibly worried about the safety of his little friend. They had to make a very hard decision to continue with their journey, hoping to be reunited with Nerugui at some point.

Naruto frowned and looked over to Temujin. "Him, we were attacked by him," Naruto said seriously.

Nerugui perked up and jumped off Kahiko. Nerugui began running over to Temujin and sat in his lap instead. He settled in Temujin's lap immediately and began snoozing peacefully. Temujin looked down at the ferret before choosing to ignore it.

"Hey, Nerugui!" Kahiko called with a dejected face. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed, he had been completed rejected by Nerugui for someone else.

Sasuke arched a brow, "Are you sure he recognises people?"

Kahiko sighed in disappointment as his shoulders dropped, "That's what it's supposed to be…"

 **NARUTO**

The next morning came quickly. After Akemi had finished healing Sasuke, they all found themselves being fed by the people in the caravan. With a full stomach, they all rested easily. Naruto and Sasuke had moved their beds away from Temujin and Temujin ignored them in return. Akemi had watched him intently, trying to remember all she could from the anime but found herself coming up short. Now awake, the caravan people began to travel once more. They had packed everything up in record time and were on the road again by the time the sun was rising.

Naruto and Akemi were riding on one Ostrich, Sasuke had one to himself and Temujin was riding in the caravan as he was still the most injured out of them all. Naruto was steering while Akemi sat behind Naruto. "Hey, have you always travelled like this," Naruto asked, looking over to Kahiko's granddaughter, Emina. She had helped Temujin with his bandages and had checked upon them through the night.

Emina nodded her head, "We have been travelling around ever since our country was destroyed," Emina had long black hair and big brown eyes. Her hair was spiked at the end and her bangs hang over her forehead. She wore a big pink hat and a purple short-sleeved dress type shirt with a pink stripe on it. She wore a white collared long-sleeved shirt underneath her purple dress shirt with a reddish-coloured cloth belt around her waist.

Sasuke looked over to her, "What happened?"

"It's an old legend told by our Clan." Emina answered with a small smile, "We had a country, but it was destroyed. It talks about what there was a great catastrophe a long time ago. We lost our land and our Clan was scattered. Just like us, they're all groups of wanderers."

Akemi frowned, she tried to think about the legend but it wasn't ringing any bells with her at the moment. This had been her least favourite movie so she quickly forgot about the details of it, unlike when they went to the Land of Snow.

"It seems that there are some who even crossed the ocean." Kahiko said, looking down to the ferret that was sitting in his lap, "Nerugui-chan is a ferret that our ancestors adored. He is living proof of us once having a country,"

Naruto laughed, "Old man, you're joking, aren't you! That would mean that Nerugui has lived a very long life," He couldn't believe what he was hearing, there was no way that a ferret could live for that long, it was impossible.

Sasuke nodded his head, agreeing with Naruto, "A bit of an unusual life span for a ferret," He said, not believing what the old man was saying. The life span of a ferret was five to ten years at most, and it sounded as though the catastrophe happened some time ago.

"He lived a really, really long time ago!" Kahiko protested loudly.

Emina smiled and nodded her head, "Nerugui is a lot older than Grandpa." She had grown up with Nerugui and had learnt not to question his lifespan, but she understood that outsiders would have the same understanding as them

"Didn't you ever find that odd?" Akemi asked, looking at Kahiko and Emina. Akemi knew that she found it odd that a ferret was older than the elder himself. She also didn't remember this part in the anime either, but her memory was spotty at best at this point.

Kahiko shook his head, "Nope! Our people are looking after him. That is why Nerugui-chan will not stick to other people other than the people in the caravan," Just as Kahiko finished speaking, Nerugui jumped out of Kahiko's lap. Nerugui then jumped onto Naruto and Akemi's Ostrich and ran over to where Temujin was.

Temujin stared at Nerugui with a confused expression.

Kahiko looked dejected, "He got it wrong again…"

"He does like him," Akemi commented with a frown.

Sasuke nodded his head, "He's going where that boy goes." Sasuke watched Temujin with a close eye to make sure that he wasn't up to anything suspicious. He had wanted to interrogate him for ages but they hadn't had the chance yet.

"What in the world is going on, Nerugui-chan?" Kahiko asked, his shoulders slumped in disappointment. This had been the second time that Nerugui had abandoned him for the stranger in the group and had made a liar out of him.

Saying nothing, Akemi continued to watch Temujin.

A few hours had passed and the caravan had stopped to take a break. They had decided that they had taken long enough of a break and was were going to set up for the day. They had found a lovely spot with open fields and plenty of trees for shade. Now they were free to explore, Naruto and Akemi guided their Ostrich over to Temujin. Sasuke steered his Ostrich and followed after Naruto and Akemi. They both wanted some answers and this was the perfect opportunity. Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke found Temujin sitting down in the caravan with Nerugui sitting his lap, fast asleep.

They stopped a few feet away from Temujin, "Hey you!" Naruto called, getting his attention.

Temujin looked up, almost surprised that they were talking to him.

"Why did you attack us?" Sasuke asked, getting straight to the point.

Temujin said nothing for a moment, his mind still on the fight he had with Naruto and Sasuke. He remembered their attacks, thinking about how powerful their attacks had been. His sword had been able to combat their attacks, but barely.

"Hello?" Akemi asked, waving a hand near his face, hoping to gain his attention. She saw the glazed look in his red eyes, indicating that he was in deep thought.

This appeared to work, Temujin snapped out of his daze as he looked at Naruto and Sasuke. "Your strange power, what is it?" He asked with a blank expression.

"Huh? Power?" Naruto asked looking confused. He hadn't had anyone question him about his Jutsu before so this was new territory for him.

"Are you talking about our chakra?" Akemi asked with a frown.

"Chakra?" Temujin repeated sounding confused. He then slowly placed a hand over his chest, where the mark was.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. They had never come across anyone who didn't know what chakra was, even civilians in faraway villages knew what chakra was. Sasuke was suspicious and thought that Temujin was either lying or was playing dumb but he didn't know which one.

Sensing her teammate's ire, Akemi stepped in. "You seem confused about chakra, where are you from?" She asked, trying to be polite.

Temujin ignored her question. "I came to make a utopia," He said suddenly, looking at Naruto and Sasuke intently. He appeared to be ignoring Akemi – something that irked her greatly and made her eye twitch madly.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, sparing a glance at Akemi.

Again, Temujin ignored the question. "You two have an interesting power. Come with me." He said.

Naruto looked even more confused. "Huh? I have no idea what you're saying!" He exclaimed, beginning to feel annoyed that Temujin was completely avoiding all the questions.

Temujin turned around, "Thank about it."

Seeing as they were getting nowhere, Akemi sighed, forcing herself to calm down. "Come on guys. He isn't going to give us any answers," She said, indicating that they had better leave him alone. Naruto grumbled lowly under his breath but moved the Ostrich away from Temujin. Sasuke followed soon after, glaring at Temujin. They walked a few metres away from Temujin and go somewhere he couldn't see them before deciding they'd had enough of riding an Ostrich. Once they stopped, Naruto jumped off the animal and so did Akemi. Sasuke followed suit and stood near his teammates.

"What's his deal?" Naruto said while crossing his arms over his chest.

Akemi sighed, "I have no idea. But his name is Temujin." She said, looking at her teammates.

Sasuke turned to her, "Do you know anything else?"

Akemi shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, I am drawing a blank here. I recognise him but things are a little vague at the moment," She answered him honestly. She was hoping that some information would come to her as time went on. If she was being really honest, she couldn't even remember how this movie was meant to end.

Sasuke frowned but nodded his head nonetheless.

"It's like he's never heard of chakra before, how is that even possible?!" Naruto exclaimed, feeling very frustrated. He had wanted some answers as to why they were attacked in the first place but Temujin hadn't answered a single one of their questions. He had completely ignored them and answered with questions of his own.

Akemi opened her mouth to speak but she was cut off when a scream from a small child echoed through the field.

Naruto, Sasuke and Akemi all turned their heads in time to see a child falling from a high tree. They turned just in time to see Temujin dive for the child, taking the impact as he fell to the ground with the child safe and unharmed. Without saying anything, Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke all ran over to the child and Temujin, who was now being surrounded by the caravan people.

"Thank you so much!" The mother of the child said, gathering her child in her arms. She began kissing the child's head, so thankful that her child wasn't injured at all. The child cuddled into her mother as she cried at the terrifying experience.

Temujin sat up and winced. He held his arm and looked down at it, wincing more as he moved it. He was now dressed in his full outfit, including his armour and cape, but it hadn't protected him from the impact of the child landing on him.

Naruto walked over to him and offered him is hand, "Need some help?" Naruto asked, being genuine.

Temujin stared at him and ignored Naruto's hand. He stood up on his own without even glancing at Naruto.

"You're in pain, let me help," Akemi said, walking over to Temujin.

Temujin shook his head, "No. With this, I have repaid my debt here." As he finished speaking, Temujin began walking away from the people in the caravan. As he was walking away, Nerugui was quick to follow after him.

Akemi watched him walk away with a frown on her face.

Hours had passed since then and now it was evening-time. The moon hung heavily in the sky as it was surrounded by clouds. No one had seen Temujin ever since he walked off and left the caravan site and no one had seen the ferret either. When Akemi, Naruto and Sasuke didn't see him for a while, they went searching. They had searched around the camp site, thinking he would like some space away from everyone but he wasn't there. They then began to check within the camp but again they came up with nothing.

Naruto decided to check the caravan Temujin had been staying in, hoping that he would be there. "He's not here." He said, running back to his teammates. Akemi and Sasuke also hadn't been able to find him and they had searched everywhere.

Sasuke sighed deeply as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, "So he's done a runner," He said, looking around, just in case they had missed him.

Akemi nodded her head, "He did say his debt was repaid." Temujin must have only been staying with the caravan people for as long as he did was because he was grateful for the help they had given him. By saving a child from serious harm, that made them equal.

Quiet footsteps could be heard making their way closer to Team 7. Turning their heads, they saw Kahiko walking closer to them, "How could this happen?" He asked with a sad look on his wrinkled face. He too was looking around the camp for Nerugui but had come up short.

"What's the matter, Ojisan?" Naruto asked, walking closer to the elder.

Kahiko pouted, "Nerugui-chan isn't here."

"He must have followed that guy," Sasuke pointed out with a frown. The ferret was very attached to Temujin and had hardly left his side, much to the disappointment of Kahiko. Kahiko had tried coaxing Nerugui with treats but the ferret had ignored it all and had stuck with Temujin.

Kahiko nodded his head before bowing it in sadness, "Yeah. What was the point in hiring outstanding Konoha ninja?" He asked with a whine in his tone.

Akemi arched a brow at him.

Naruto looked at the elder and frowned at his tone, "We already fulfilled your request!" Naruto argued back. In his eyes, they had fulfilled what they had set out to do and he felt slightly offended that Kahiko thought differently.

"Shut up!" Kahiko yelled back with a pout, "The terms were to bring him to the outskirts of the village but Nerugui isn't here!" He pointed over the mountains, where Team 7 were meant to meet him in the first place but it hadn't happened.

"It's not our fault he ran off again," Akemi mumbled to herself.

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement next to her.

Kahiko let out a loud whine, "I knew this was going to happen. Maybe I should have hired the more outstanding Suna Ninja in the first place…"

"Geez! We get it already!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

Sasuke and Akemi shared a look and Akemi sighed deeply. It appeared as though their mission wasn't over yet.

 **NARUTO**

It was dark and quiet in the grass fields. It was completely peaceful as the wind blew softly and moved the grass ever so slightly. There were soft sounds of crickets and animals in the background, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, that peace was soon disturbed at the sound huffing and puffing. There was also sounds of annoyed groans and the call of people's names that disturbed this picturesque scene.

Sakura jumped from a tree nearby and landed on the grass fields with a huff. She had been searching for her teammates for hours and she hadn't even caught a whiff of them. It was moments like this that she wished that Pakkun was with them. She had changed her shampoo since she last saw him so there was no way he could compare her scent to a dog, unlike last time.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out in the field. She looked around, seeing if she could spot any of her teammates but there was no one there. "Where the hell are they?!" Sakura screamed in the sky. She was at the point where she wanted to pull her hair out in frustration but then had to stop herself. Sasuke liked girls with long hair so she didn't want to ruin something she had spent years growing. It didn't help that she was tired and it was just making her even more frustrated.

It was very tempting to stop for the night and start looking again in the morning.

A shiver went down Sakura's spine as she remembered Haku's reaction to finding out Akemi had been involved in the explosion. Haku was scary when he was angry and he only got even angrier when he realised that Naruto had also been involved in the explosion. Sakura had thought Zabuza was scary then she was dead wrong, Haku won that title outright as the scariest person she had met. Haku had told her not to come back until she found them – or found a clue to where they were. But Sakura was coming up blank and she was too scared to go back to him with nothing. His glare alone made her want to faint. It didn't help that he was still extremely attractive too.

Sakura flushed and shook her head frantically, her heart belonged to Sasuke and no one else.

As Sakura continued to look around the area for any clues, she found an old fire. It was dead and it gave no heat, but it was a sign. It was a sign that someone had camped there a little while ago. Sakura looked around and saw track marks along with animal prints.

With this new find, Sakura began following the tracks at the fast pace. She wanted to find Sasuke as fast as she could. Sakura hoped that Sasuke was okay and that he hadn't suffered any injuries. However, the thought of nursing Sasuke back to health made her heartbeat fast. Sakura knew that Akemi and Naruto would be fine. Naruto could heal freakishly fast and Akemi could heal herself so she wasn't concerned about them.

"I'm coming for you Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out, running after the track marks with a new spring in her step.

 **NARUTO**

It had been around an hour before Akemi, Sasuke and Naruto managed to find Temujin. Using their tracking skills, they had managed to locate where he was heading. They then used chakra to speed up and close the distance between them. They found Temujin standing in the middle of a clearing, with very thick fog surrounding the area, making it very difficult to see what ahead of them was.

Sasuke, Akemi and Naruto stopped running when they were directly behind him. "We finally caught up," Naruto sighed in relief.

Looking down at Nerugui, Sasuke spoke, "Give us back the ferret." He said, before looking up at Temujin.

Nerugui let out a squeak of protest as it hid behind Temujin, indicating that he didn't want to go back.

Akemi looked up and saw what Temujin was staring at. Her eyes widened when she saw the building in front of her. It was a massive structure that looked to be made up of mostly metal. There was a large pillar in the middle that loomed over Team 7. "What is that?" She asked in awe.

Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads and saw what Akemi was referring to. Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw it, Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. The fog had completely covered the vessel so they hadn't noticed it before now.

"My name is Temujin," Temujin answered, walking forward into the metal structure. "I will introduce you to Haido-sama."

Sasuke frowned, "Is this okay?" He asked, looking to his teammates.

Naruto shrugged, "It shouldn't be too bad," He said running after Temujin and Nerugui.

"Come on," Akemi said, following after Naruto and Temujin.

Sasuke said nothing as he followed after his teammates.

Temujin walked through the door first, which automatically opened when it sensed someone's arrival. Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke soon walked in after him. Naruto quickened his pace so he was walking side by side with Temujin while Akemi and Sasuke were directly behind them. They began walking down a hallway that was covered in metal. The floor was metal and so was the walls, making it resemble a prison.

As they walked, Naruto looked around, "So, who is Haido?"

"He is my master. He has fantastic beliefs." Temujin answered back as he continued to walk forward. "You'll understand when you meet him."

Akemi looked at Temujin when he said this. She didn't know why, but her gut was telling her not to believe this and this put her on edge. Akemi began looking around, trying to see if there were any escape routes so they could make a quick getaway if things went south.

Just then, a suite of armour – very similar to what they encountered before – walked past them. It didn't see glance in the direction of the Ninja and just ignored their presence. Sasuke watched the enemy with a close eye, his hand twitching in case he needed to attack at a moment's notice. Akemi also had her hand resting on her sais.

Naruto gave the armour the stink eye and turned to Temujin. "Hey, are all your comrades' weirdos?" He asked bluntly.

"Those are merely loyal soldiers. My comrades are…" Temujin trailed off at the end as if he didn't know what to say.

They soon walked over to the lifts. They were decorated purple and had purple marble on the walls. Temujin pressed the button and the door opened. Temujin stepped inside and so did Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke. Once inside and the door was closed, it was silent. Akemi marvelled at the lift, looking around with a critical eye. She hadn't been in a lift for years and she had only been in one back in her old world. Temujin pressed down a lever and they went upwards. After a few seconds, the lift dinged, indicating that they had made it to their designated floor. The door opened and they all filed out in a more lavish room. All the walls were made of marble and it was painted red. There was a huge set of stairs and on top was a throne.

Temujin walked up to the stairs and onto the walkway. Once he was there, Temujin kneeled and placed his helmet on the ground. "I have returned,"

Haido looked up and placed the book he was reading down on the table next to him. "Oh, Temujin. So you've returned," Haido had pale skin, light brown bushy eyebrows and light brown bushy sideburns that nearly reaches his mouth. He had a broad nose, light green eye irises and he wore dark blue bishop's robes.

Akemi watched him place down the book, feeling as though she was missing something very important. Akemi tried to see if she make out the title of the book Haido had put down, but he had put it away far too quickly for her liking.

Haido looked at Naruto and then Sasuke, "I heard from Temujin that you have an interesting power," As he spoke, he had a gentle smile on his face. His gaze landed on Akemi but he quickly moved on from her and looked back at Temujin.

Temujin stood up and nodded his head, "I will show you." Temujin took out and sword and attempted to swipe at Naruto.

Naruto jumped back in time, with Sasuke and Akemi following suite. "What are you doing?!" Naruto yelled at him, glaring at Temujin for attacking him out of nowhere.

"Come on, attack me back," Temujin said, getting into a defensive position.

"You mustn't!" Haido stepped in, "Please stop this meaningless fighting." Haido ordered, looking at Temujin with a stern look.

Temujin looked to Haido and frowned, "But…"

Haido shook his head, "No. Fighting is a bad thing."

Akemi snorted at this. If only Haido had been there to stop Temujin when he was attacking them in the first place. However, Akemi's gut was acting up again and it was putting her even more on edge than before. She didn't like anything Haido was saying but she didn't understand why. If anyone else had said it, she would have been fine with it. "What is it that you guys want?" Akemi asked, looking at Haido and then at Temujin.

Haido looked to her and smiled, "I don't think Temujin-kun told me your name."

Akemi looked over to Temujin and glared at him. "My name is Akemi," She said, introducing herself to Haido.

The metal shutters around the windows of Haido's raised. Naruto, Akemi and Sasuke walked over to them and had a look. Where the vessel was given them a gorgeous view of the mountains and the clear blue sky.

Haido walked over to the window, following after Team 7 with Temujin close behind him. "We have journeyed here to create a utopia." He said, walking closer.

"What's a utopia?" Sasuke asked, looking at Haido with a cautious gaze. Sasuke had heard Temujin say the same thing, but Temujin hadn't elaborated any further on the subject and Sasuke wanted answers. He hoped that Haido was going to give them answers too.

Haido thought for a moment, thinking about how to word it. "To put it simply, it would be a world where there is no war and the weak are not taken advantage of," Haido answered with a smile.

Akemi looked out the window and frowned. What Haido was looking for was ideal, it sounded perfect. But Akemi knew that there was no utopia to be found anywhere. As unfortunate as it was, the war was human nature and sometimes it couldn't be avoided.

"A world without war?" Naruto repeated, looking up at Haido.

Haido nodded his head, "Yes. Our homeland is a place far away that is always in conflict. War is both sad and ugly and it brings sorrow to all people. Temujin is one who lost his home in the conflict." He then looked to Temujin, using him as an example.

"So, you're all alone?" Naruto asked, looking sympathetic.

Sasuke looked down to the ground.

Temujin shook his head. "I have Haido-sama."

Haido looked out the window and frowned. "As a child in a warring land, Temujin was left behind in a burnt down village. It was then I made a decision. I want to protect all the powerless people. I want to create a world where everyone can live without fighting each other. That is a utopia. That is my dream. For the sake of that dream, I am gathering together worthy people who are like-minded. It took a lot of time to make it this far. Although it's unfortunate, we've had many sacrifices along the way." As he finished be bowed as head as if to repay respect to the people who had sacrificed themselves for his cause.

There was a tug in Akemi's gut.

Turning around, Haido looked to the Konoha Ninja, "Want to come with us? To make that world a better place, I would like to borrow your power." As he said this, he looked at Naruto, Sasuke and then Akemi.

The hairs on the back of Akemi's neck stood to attention.

"No thanks," Sasuke said while crossing his arms over his chest. He had been watching Akemi out of the back of his eye. Akemi was tense and that was putting him on edge too.

"Thank for the offer, but no thanks," Akemi answered, trying to be polite as possible.

Naruto too shook his head, "I'd like to, but I have to become Hokage." He too had been watching his teammate's reaction and he agreed with them. He didn't understand it, but he felt uneasy being in Haido's presence and it seemed as though he wasn't alone in that. He had thrown in the comment about becoming Hokage to diffuse the situation and make it less tense.

"Hokage?" Haido tilted his head in confusion.

Naruto grinned, "It's the number one ninja in my village. I can't go with you, but I'll do my best to make sure that the villagers are happy." Naruto explained.

There was some rattling noise and Akemi turned her head. She saw Nerugui sneak out of Temujin's metal helmet and run over to Temujin. Nerugui ran over to Temujin and jumped on him. Temujin's climbed onto Temujin's shoulder and sat on his metal shoulder pads happily. Nerugui looked up and saw Haido and the minute it did, Nerugui began growling and its hackles were up.

Haido turned and saw the ferret, "Huh? What is this?" He asked with a kind smile.

Temujin looked at the ferret and frowned, "My apologies. It followed me from the caravan," He said, looking confused. He didn't understand why the ferret hadn't left his side. He had tried to get it to go back to its owner, but Nerugui was being very stubborn.

Haido walked closer to Nerugui, but it only made the ferret growl even louder. "Caravan? Is that so?" Haido said, staring at Nerugui with an intense look.

" _Haido-sama, we have trouble_!" A woman's voice sounded over the intercom.

"What is it?" Haido answered, breaking away from his staring matching with the ferret.

" _The unit that was invading the Wind Country has been wiped out_!" The woman answered again.

Akemi frowned at the woman's wording. They said that they had been invading the Wind Country and she didn't like that. It didn't sound like a peaceful approach that Haido had just been raving about to them. It sounded the exact opposite of what he was saying.

"I'll go!" Temujin answered instantly, running out the room.

"Hey, wait!" Naruto said running after Temujin.

Sasuke and Akemi quickly followed after them, not wanting to be left behind.


End file.
